As you’ll know if you’ve seen the Channel 4 documentary, Richard III: The King in the Car Park, Philippa Langley, in 2011, was a wannabe screenwriter, based in Edinburgh, suffering from chronic ME. Her relationship with her husband, John, was under strain; she was struggling to take care of her two children. What changed everything was her burgeoning interest, nay obsession, with Richard III.
The latter, Langley felt, was the victim of Tudor propagandists and blamed Shakespeare, in particular, for Richard’s rep as a hunch-backed nephew-killer. The least she could do was find the guy’s remains and with the help of fellow Ricardians, her own intuition and a bunch of scientists, that’s what she did. Langley - who by the way is a dead ringer for real-life activist Erin Brockovich - also dreamt of getting Richard a decent burial. She poured money, time and whatever energy she had into this mission and, after endless slights and setbacks, she got her way.
