Ok, leaving the marketing aside, this is pretty pretty.
Ya, I needed that double here. a) Smile. b) I really do like the Astrovian waves. I mean, this has gone beyond #romanticherohair at this point. Which is fitting, seeing that Astrov isn’t really a romantic hero, anyway. But by Jove, doesn’t he look young and cheerful? – Is the little scar from Thorin’s sword playing up a little bit, though? It’s more noticeable than usual – but it may provide a tiny imperfection to emphasise the handsomeness even more.
As for the marketing… Well, RA playing the marketer usually makes me feel meh. And here I am wondering what the story is. Ha, not literally – the story is, as we can see on the cover, a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. But I am wondering what the story is with the set-up. It looks as if RA is standing in front of a big advertising poster for the novel. Does that mean he was at some sort of release event? In a bookstore? At the publishers? Is he doing this as a private person, just because he likes Follett? Is it a gig? And can we expect a new audio performance by RA for this Follett book?
As for Follett – I have to admit here that I am quite partial to Follett books.
Yep, make of it what you will, but I love historical novels. The Pillars of the Earth is one of my all-time favourite books (not sure where it currently lives on my shelves), and World without End (the sequel to Pillars) was also a favourite of mine. So personally I can’t wait to read the prequel. And whether RA reads it for audio or not, I think I will have to get this book myself. Which means that the marketing ploy has worked.
EDIT: Thanks to Rita Maltese on Twitter who has just alerted me that RA actually sent a 7-minute video message for Ken Follett’s publication day. So now I know where that background comes from:
In any case, RA seems to enjoy very good relationships with male authors.
Once again, because he’s it’s so pretty:
Guylty Pleasure 
OMG I hadn’t seen this pic. Wow!
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Just this morning, S. But yeah, it really is an uplifting, lovely picture. He SMILES!!!! 😵
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It makes me want to jump him 😍
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LOL – now, that is a strong reaction!
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OK pretty, but my overwhelming thought looking at this picture is Botox! I could be wrong, and it could be the light or angle, but perhaps that is why the scar is a little more noticeable as it has no competition from characterful forehead creases…
One of the attractions for me has been that, despite his talent and success, RA has always been quite grounded and “real” – I’ll let him have the teeth – but I guess I am a bit disappointed if he has succumbed to the lure of the cosmetic “improvement”. Life, experience and character show in the wrinkles and for a man of his age, I don’t want to see a blank canvas. (I also like the eye crinkles).If it is Botox, can he still perform the quirky eyebrow lift that I love?
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I have to admit that that never occurred to me although I did think that his face did not look gaunt and skinny but that it had filled out a bit. Hmph. In that sense, it could be the dreaded Botox. However, I’d rather like to think that it is the lighting for the video that has eradicated all the lines. Hard to tell from the catchlights here but if they are using a large softbox from the front (i.e. behind the camera), the light would basically fill all the lines, making him look baby-bum smooth…
But yeah, in general I agree with you – please no blank canvas. I mean, I even like prominent scars, because they enhance the pretty with a little bit of mystery.
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I’m gonna go with excellent lighting. 💡
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I went back to it and the eyebrows are working fine and there are forehead crinkles aplenty. I think it’s a combo of strong light and (at least on my phone) the fact that the picture quality isn’t crystal clear. The fuzziness seems to hide some of the details.
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Great combination for people of a certain age. Not that RA would need that at all, but *I* wouldn’t say no to a trick like that 😁
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Danke fürs Zeigen! Ein wirklich strahlendes Lächeln
Er hat definitiv schon für dooferes Zeugs Werbung gemacht 😉 Auch wenn ich kein unbedingter Fan der Knightsbridge-Reihe bin, mag ich Follett und zum Beispiel seine Jahrhundert-Saga sehr.
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Ups, Kingsbridge, nicht Knightsbridge!
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Hab mich schon gewundert, welche Reihe du meinst, von der ich noch gar nichts gehört hatte *lol*. Hm, nee, für mich war das die Einstiegsdroge. Ich bin da voll dabei *grins*
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Wenn man beim Tippenn an was anderes denkt….
Wie gesagt, ich mag seine Jahrhundert-Saga total gern.
Von Kingsbridge habe ich den ersten gelesen und ich meine mich zu erinnern, dass der mir zu langatmig war, daher habe ich nie weitergelesen. Aber man kann ja auch nicht immer alles mögen 🙂
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So isses. Ist ja eben auch alles subjektiv. Ich mag solche endlosen Schinken sehr gerne – dröge Historikerin eben 😂. Insofern erinnere ich mich auch nicht, dass ich Pillars langatmig fand. Muss aber zugeben, dass ich für die Fortsetzung von Pillars (World without End) dann zwei Ansätze brauchte, weil ich zunächst auch ein bisschen von dem Wälzer erschlagen war. Aber dann hab ich das Ding ziemlich flott durchgezogen…
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Stimmt – es könnte schlimmer sein als ein Roman von Follett. Finde ich ja sowieso, da ich Follett grundsätzlich gerne lese. Und mich hier in diesem Video gerade wie ein Schnitzel freue, dass RA historische Romane sein Lieblingsgenre nennt.
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They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I am just not feeling it or seeing it in this picture. Whilst I quite like the Astrovian hair (dyed), beardy Armitage does not do it for me. What stands out to me are his veneers, a scraggy beard and a pair of red nostrils.
Handsome, beefy, masculine Armitage, yes please 😋! “Pretty” Armitage? hmmmm… not for me….
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I am with you on the beard but must admit that for me it was totally overridden by the beaming smile and the wavy hair. I’m usually not a massive fan of “pretty” men, either… but then again, I can see that those are attractive, too.
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I wonder if he grew the mustache portion out a bit more for a reason or maybe he was just too lazy to trim.
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Lazy bugger *haha*
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I agree with Zigzag about the pic, re the teeth, floppy hair and beard – although he suits the blue background and I LOVE his scars and marks. Saying that he looks gorgeous in the video, the quizzical looks, the thoughtful turn of his head. Wow, he really likes Follett and they seem to be quite similar politically too. I’m intrigued by RA’s admiration of Follett’s patriotism, I’d like him to expand a bit more on that (in person preferably, heh heh!)
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“Patriotism” is one of those words that are a real red flag for me. (From what I have seen in world history so far, patriotism has mostly led to nationalism, fascism, blood shed. I view it with caution, if not trepidation.) Haven’t checked, though, where Follett stands politically.
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Now, y’all know I really like the man, but he needs to shave. I don’t mind the beard, but it needs a trimming.
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You know, I thought that when looking at his mouth. I’d go mental if I constantly had some straggly hairs touching my upper lip…
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Did anyone find it weird he kept looking down and to the right so much? Almost as if he was reading a promoter (which of course ideally wouldn’t be placed in such an awkward location).
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That *did* occur to me. But then again, they say that looking down to your right means you are trying to grasp a sensory memory…
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It gets better as he goes along, but the first minute or so it really stood out to me. After that, it feels like trying to find the right words and he does that a lot when he’s speaking off the cuff, but the first part seemed unnatural.
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Maybe that is just due to the weird situation? Like, filming some sort of PR blurb that is not about a project of his own or about himself. No script. (Tbh I thought he failed a tiny bit in the sense that if this was a PR occasion for Follett, he spoke an awful lot about himself *grins*. I mean, *I* loved that, but maybe that wasn’t really what was meant?)
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Thanks for the extra Guylty blog. 😉
I really enjoyed The Man from St Petersburg by KF, read by RCA. But one thing that stuck out (like a sore thumb! 😝) was the dreadful sex scene around Ch4! But browsing, it appears am not alone in my opinion and that it is a popular one? Apparently Pillars of Earth has also been critiqued as having a load of those too, so I guess this will have more of the same? 😱🤣
I found the sound on the short video on Twitter not quite right – I guess the nature of not being so close to the mike? But his smiling happy face really cheered me up! 🥰😎👍❤️
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Extraordinary pretty needs extraordinary blog post, right? 😁
I had no problem with The Man from St Petersburg, either. Follett is one of my favourite writers of historical fiction. For me it goes without saying that such fiction that plays out in front of a historical background, will have anachronisms here and there. Although I find Follett fairly accurate, most of the time.
I can’t even remember the sex scene in TMFP… let alone the sex scenes in Pillars or its sequel World without Ende. I probably forget that stuff because they are not what I am looking for when I am reading hist fic.
The sound on the video was weird, indeed. Sounded to me as if it was recorded in an empty room without any carpet. There was a slight echo there. But like you, it didn’t really matter – his smile was more important…
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Me, again, asking…where’s the video?
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I embedded it in the post – does it not work for you? If you click on it, it should play?! If not – try this:
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Your link doesn’t appear to me in either place. ??? There’s also a delay of about 5 minutes in posts appearing, apparently — hence, the overlap of messages. Not complaining, not suggesting you need to try to “do” anything about it — it’s probably a WordPress server issue that you can’t do anything about anyway — just letting you know it’s happening.
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Ah – that’s superweird. I can see it embedded and clickable both in my post and in the comments. Maybe it’s a firewall issue? The post delay – have noticed that, too, although usually only when I post a blog post, not a comment. Cod knows what WP is tampering with now *eyeroll*
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Never mind. Found it: https://twitter.com/panmacmillan/status/1305800234254168066
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That’s the short version, Besotted – where he only reads the blurb of the book. The video link I posted, is the whole 7 minute interview.
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Which explains why I was wondering what everyone is talking about….
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Found it. Tell everyone to search Ken Follett (official) on Facebook. The first link I tried didn’t work, but logging onto my own FB account and searching got me to a link that did.
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👍🏻
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Well, it was confusing even when RA/Follett/PanBooks published the stuff, too, because the thumbnails basically looked similar.
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I e-mailed you a link.
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And he legit said “little old me???”
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I slightly rolled my eyes. I mean, I don’t want him to be an arrogant arse, but he really doesn’t need to be quite so deferential, either. He’s got a lot to offer, so no need to crawl in the dust.
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I don’t care if he has a wig, made botox (blergh) or anything else. I was glued to his throat. He breathe so good! Ah, that sternocleidomastoid muscle!
My mother in law introduced me to Follett’s books, she just happily called to tell me that she’s got the book.
I think Ken Follett is a lefty.
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Oh, I think I am going to have to watch again and check. (I like looking at his throat, although I am sometimes also a bit worried.)
Oh, Follett a fellow lefty??? Ha. I’m surprised that RA feels drawn to that. (He always struck me as rather middle-of-the-road.) Not sure how “patriotism” works with a lefty…
Ah lucky you, so you already have your hands on the new book? I looked it up on Amazon, and it is available, but I am on a new-book-embargo (i.e. I only buy used books at the mo), so in the end I didn’t buy it… Means I’ll have to wait. Or maybe ask for it as a birthday present 😇
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Worried by his throat? Why?
Fascists do love call themselves “patriots” but they are not, they are just little filthy things.
Probably was something like “Ken, who loves so dearly his country and its history” etc. My own english is so poor that I can’t argue about his.
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Worried was a weird way of putting it 😉. I meant to say that I sometimes find his throat looks a bit strange.
Couldn’t agree more about fascists! But yeah, maybe RA has a different definition of ‘patriotic’ than I have. It’s just a word that I dislike…
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I have now seen the long-form of the video, and I gotta say…I disagree with all of you complainers and carpers. I think he looks absolutely gorgeous in every detail and is absolutely sincere in what he says. About everything. (Pass the kool-aid, please.)
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Oh, he does look gorgeous, no complaints there.
I distrust PR, so I am passing on the sincerity…
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ps. His voice sounds echo-ey. I think he’s in his home-made recording hut, and the background, provided by the publisher probably, is behind him on screen, like on a Zoom session where everyone puts the Golden Gate Bridge photo provided by Zoom behind themselves to hide their homes. I, personally, found a moon photo for my background, because why not. I will never be an astronaut, but now I can go to the moon. “To the moon, Alice, to the moon!” for those of you who know 1950s/60s American television references.
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I was wondering about Zoom, too, Besotted, but I don’t think that is true. At some point in the video you can actually see the background move very slightly. I think it is one of those roll-up banners that companies put on their stall at a trade fair. Must be made from shiny material because there is a reflection (a door? a window?) on the poster to the right of RA’s head.
I like your moon idea!!!
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Good points about the background. I didn’t notice the reflections, even though they are…right there. Duh. Leave it to a photographer….
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I have a weekly Zoom tai chi session with a small group and one of my friends decided to try the beach background, being “zen” and all that, but it was hopeless. Bits of her kept disappearing and reappearing like the Cheshire Cat which was very distracting lol.
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😂 That’s a problem I encountered, too, when I tested Zoom backgrounds in advance of a call. I only used a picture of a book case as the backdrop, but occasionally, when I moved, a book would kind of embed itself on the top of my head. Weird. I decided to forego the artificial background. My Zoom partners have to deal with a view of my ceiling light and a cupboard…
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LOL – well, let’s face it, the background was definitely not the important part of the video…
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He is very pretty, indeed. I find it fascinating that COVID hair has changed men’s hairstyles back to what they were in the ’70’s! I remember fondly when my dad’s hair was longish and wavy. Even our Prime Minister, Trudeau, has been rocking the longer hair. Very nice on both Justin and Richard.
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Ha, that is such a good point. Indeed, I wonder whether Covid will make an impact on fashion in that respect. I mean, the (despicable) trend for forest troll beards was already there before Covid, but now it has really rooted itself even outside the hipster scene. Meh.
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Can we ever go back to wearing dress pants and heels for the office? Barefoot in yoga pants might be an office wear trend!
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And I would welcome that *grins*. I’m not a formal dresser at the best of times, and I love that I am sitting in t-shirt and yoga pants and flip-flops at my desk…
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I’m heading into the office today. Dressed up a bit, but still comfy enough.
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Sounds good – I’ve never really liked those office-dress codes.
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Someone on twitter posted a pic from yesterday next to him against the white background. ..really shows how much difference to his complexion the background makes. He looked sallow with the white background. ..where here he looks very well. And smiley. Which is always nice 😊
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Interesting experiment. I haven’t seen it but I believe you. Especially with the dark-almost-black hair and the black shirt it also would’ve looked a bit boring had the background just been white. The turquoise really lifted it up.
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He looks so happy and healthy and smiley (and just plain gorgeous) that I just sit here smiling back at him. 😊
I enjoyed Richard’s narration of Ken Follett’s The Man from St Petersburg but couldn’t get into Pillars of the Earth. I usually like those kind of epic historical stories but neither book nor TV mini-series piqued my interest. Makes me wonder whether I would’ve actually read the whole book TMFStP myself, that it was simply having Richard read it to me that got me through it. Having said that, there are some audiobooks not even his narration tempts me to buy them.
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I didn’t even know that there was a TV series of PofE… But I have to admit that I wouldn’t have been very keen on it, anyway. The book is a massive tome – I personally just don’t want to watch a whole 10-part series of that book. I loved reading it, but nah, I don’t want to see the whole shebang. It really would’ve been an epos of biblical proportion. TMFStP probably not so much – it’s a much shorter novel, and the narrative could easily fit a feature film length. Having said that, now that I have heard Richard perform it, I don’t really feel the need to see a film of it.
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Definitely! What a lovely photo. I love it when Richard smiles. He has a beautiful smile. He needs to narrate this book. Otherwise there is no chance I would read it.
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I’m afraid the book is already available as an audio book – narrated by someone else…
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I think I might get this from Audible, I did watch the television show when it became free to watch, Matthew Macfadyen and Ian McShane if I remember correctly. If this is a prequel it might be interesting.
Sadly there hasn’t been much in RA’s catalogue lately that has interested me.
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I am going to pass on the very last one that has come out – Beatrix Potter. Even though I loved those books (for my children), I don’t really feel like listening to those children’s stories… I’d love for him to read another big massive tome (like Pillars of the Earth) – just because it would be more bang for my buck.
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I live the Joy Ellis mysteries and those are the ones I have purchased on Audible, along with the poetry readings by Richard.
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Glad to see him smiling big here. I gotta say this shade of blue (teal-ish) background suits him. It’s a cool color that’s bright. It seems to work well for his complexion (and eyes!!) I remember there was an audible interview or promo where he was in a white shirt with a similar blue bg and I quite liked that look too.
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Oh yes, wasn’t that filmed in the Audible canteen in Berlin? 😂
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The mention of ‘patriotism’ raises my hackles too, it can so easily creep into nationalism.
Richard mentioned a couple of times that he was a Labour man (that he was left-wing made my heart soar!). I think he even said once that he always would be (or maybe that was wishful thinking) but then said that he was voting Lib Dem – although perhaps that was tactical. I do get the impression that he is quite moderate, Guardian-ey, but then you don’t have to be that left-wing to vote Labour.
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To be honest, I think Richard is a bit wishi-washi when it comes to politics. As you said, he has described himself as Labour – but then he also said he was a card-carrying member of the Lib Dems. So what is it? And even if it *was* Labour – they don’t really strike me as particularly lefty anymore. (New Labour put an end to that imo.) But yeah, in that whole context it doesn’t surprise me that Richard uses the word patriot(ism) as a compliment.
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Wishi-washi! Yes!
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😁
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