After yesterday’s wig wam bam, let’s continue with some notes of absolutely zero value and merit.
One of Mr Armitage’s greatest assets – imho – has always been his height. 6’2”, 6’2½”, 6’3” – his height has varied, even when announced from the horse’s mouth. For a person used to the metric system, those numbers do not mean that much, anyway. Converted into metric, the variety does not really look so stark, from 1.88m via 1.89m to 1.90m. But in any case an impressive height, considering that the average height for a man in Britain is 5’10” (1.77m). Doesn’t look like much taller, but as you know, ladies, every inch counts! 😉 One consequence of Richard’s height was that Mr A is always easy to pick out in any ensemble. From the chorus line in Cats…
to the Hobbit promos and charity work
Right: Hobbit promo in NZ 2012. Still tall, although leaning in and spreading legs
and photos off- and on-stage
Right: Celebrating with Uncle Vanya cast
Richard is always easy to pick out. Just look for the tallest guy in frame. Except for when he makes himself deliberately smaller.
And so imagine my horror, when it recently appeared that Richard was *not* the tallest guy on set for SC. Exhibit 1:
And then this:
To add insult to injury, I was unfaithful and recently started listening to an audio book that was *not* read by Richard Armitage. In fact it is Clanlands, the audio book accompanying Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish’s – yes, he of the line of Durin – Scottish road trip. And to my horror, I had to listen to this snippet:
WTF????
Has Richard already started shrinking???
🤣
Nice ribbing, McTavish! I wonder whether Richard has heard (of) this scandalous slander. Mind you, Richard *did* look rather short on the set of TH…
It’s time for Richard to go back to greater heights!!!
Guylty Pleasure 
Graham Mc Tavish is even taller?????????????? Let’s not talk about Lee Pace who was for sure taller, either as a human or as the elf king Thranduil. Ok, it’s time to rewatch the VICAR OF DIBLEY, the two episodes, for obvious reason (the vicar herself)!!!
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Nah, McTavish was joking. He is the exact same height as RA 😉. But LP is taller, I think.
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Yes, at the Cats show he is at the back row, fourth from the left. And at the Charity event, again back row, at the left side almost to the middle. He is tall…
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Yep. And conspicuous by trying to be inconspicuous 😉
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Thanks for the nice photos. It did not surprise me at all that there are people who are taller than Richard. Probably because Mr Graza is still a centimeter taller than the highest version of RA 😊. Looks like I have a soft spot for some tall guys 😉.
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Within the business he is one of the tallest actors. Most of them seem much smaller than him. But yes, in the greater scheme of things 1.89m doesn’t really seem extra tall at all… I certainly have several friends who are taller than that…
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Rhys Ifans is 6’2”—but come on! Discuss: legs, hips, waist, thighs.
In that early school photo of Richard that circulated — I picked him out right away. That’s when I took my rightful place in the Army.
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Yep, he’s easy to spot.
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Trying to be inconspicuous. Exactly. Richard does that often, and it bugs the living daylights out of me. Same thing with his comments about his nose (IMHO it’s perfect the way it is; has to be to balance that strong chin). But I digress.
Graham is 6’2″. Lee is 6’5″. So Richard is perfectly situated between them and shouldn’t ever listen to McTavish’s musings, delivered strictly for laughs. BTW, the 1st Clanlands is also available as an audiobook and I suggest that version to enjoy the McTavish and Heughan comedy show to full extent.
I, too, was surprised that HC towered over RA, but that is no reason for Richard to slouch so during that interview. If he is shrinking slightly (happens to us all with age as gravity does its thing) it’s even more important for him to own his impressive height, stand up straight and have confidence in his awesomeness. Modesty be damned!
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He really likes to slink into the background, doesn’t he? Well, he’s mentioned it often enough that he felt very awkward when he suddenly shot up in puberty. That experience has probably left its marks…
Lee really is what I would call tall. 1.88m – sure, not short, but not really that unusual either.
Man, Richard really looked as if he was sliding off the chair in that Netflix interview 😂. Surprising – he’s such a stickler for good manners otherwise. What would Mama Armitage say about slouching like that? *tuttuttut* But well, it all goes back what I said at the beginning of this reply – childhood trauma. He will never truly understand why we think he is handsomeness and awesomeness combined ❤️
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Re: your last sentence: I’d love the opportunity to convince him.
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If all the feedback from hundreds of fans doesn’t do it…
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I noticed the slouching in the chair, too, on Netflix interview. I have wondered whether Richard knows how much his fans love his nose and find his profile *gggggg*—is that the correct term? I will check the Armitage Dictionary. It makes me sad to know he was bullied over it when it is such a wonderful, distinct feature of his.
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I always liked his original nose – as you say, a distinct feature. But well, what matters is his own satisfaction with how he looks…
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Obviously still has issues. Didn’t I hear him say in a SC interview that the tats on his hands would help distract from his face as he held the camera up to take pictures? I doubt these comments could all be jokes. There’s something deeply disturbing about his lack of self-confidence. Childhood trauma, sure. But at what age do you start getting over that? Don’t get me wrong. It’s not for lack of sympathy I say this, but a genuine wish for a happy, more self-confident Armitage.
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Same here, Lou. It’s just so sad to be thinking that this wound has never healed. I can sympathise with it, to some extent, as I doubt *I* will ever get over the cruel name-calling I received when I was a chubby child.
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Well, you do get shorter with age, as I know to my cost 😦
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😂 I know. I am only marginally older than RA but have the impression that the shrinkage has started already. (Or maybe my children are just extra tall 🤣)
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The pictures are fun to see again, thanks for the laugh, it´s really not that often that our man is the smaller one 😊.
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It really stood out, didn’t it? We are so used to seeing him tower over everyone else.
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I queried with my doctor why I was shorter than I used to be. He said you lose half an inch or 1.27 cms for every decade over age 40. Mind you Harlan is 60, so should have lost an inch 😂
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Eeek, well, I look forward to becoming a 5’4” dwarf then😂
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That sounds about right. I reached nearly 5’9″ in my 20s, and that was still true into my late 40s. Now just into my mid 60s, I seem to be only just over 5′ 7, although typically I appear to be almost 1/2″ shorter at the end of a day than at the start!
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Hard to say why Richard try’s to make himself shorter. My youngest son is 5’9 with very long legs and a short upper body. There are certain times he will stand with his legs further apart than normal as not to lean over as far. If his upper body was to more to size with his legs he would be over 6 foot. I really don’t think Richard would want to be short either, my oldest son is 5’3.
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From my observations of Richard on screen, his proportions appear relatively equal, that is, long arms, long legs, long torso.
I refer to the Sleepwalker (2017) foreplay scene between the characters of Scott White (RA) and Sarah Wells/Anna. Scott’s arms are so long that he easily plants both palms against the hallway walls, further balancing himself by spreading his long legs. He removes his shirt; there’s that long torso. And just for an extra dollop of ooof!, he picks her up and with a single long stride crosses the threshold to the bedroom.
I rest my case. Take a moment to compose yourselves. 😉
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… 😵
He is definitely a well-proportioned man.
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Better tall than short, I say. But it’s all subjective, isn’t it? I’ve been on the shorter side all my life, and wish I was taller – maybe tall people wish they were shorter?
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He has always slouched through the waist a bit when he sits. He bends at the waist in a chair, not at the hip joints. Which is so nice for us, because it makes him “present” the, ahem, pelvic area so…nicely. And because his legs are so long, they are barely even on the chair, and gravity encourages them to…splay open. He rarely bends at the hip joints, places his weight on the bottom of the pelvic bone, and stretches his spine up straight. It’s most obvious if his clothing has horizontal stripes which collapse on top of each other. Look at old interviews — some of the British chat tv shows, and that one where Caroline Goodall interviewed him. I’ve always wondered if it’s how he relieves the back pain he mentions every now and then. The really, really amazing detail is that no skin, not one iota sticks out of his abdomen, despite the slouching. Come on, who else’s abdominal muscles are that tight?
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I think you are correct. My daughter’s partner is 6feet 4inches and has had two lower back operations, he sits exactly the same and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself telling him off for slouching.
But getting back to that interview it was an awful choice of furniture because if he had sat towards the front it would have looked as if he was poised to make a quick exit lol
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That furniture was probably made for shorter people… 🤭
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He’s in great shape! 👍🏻
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Yet he still refers to his “dad bod.” 🤔
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Coquette!
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Ode to Tallness
Does it matter at all.
If RA is tall?
Kinda sorta, for me.
Cause I’m tall too,
You see.
So I could maybe wear heels,
If we went out for meals.
No arguments ever with this tallish guy,
Cause we’d naturally see eye to eye.
If I offered him a lift.
It would sure make me blue.
If he didn’t need a ride,
But a lift for his shoe.
Kathy Jones
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Aaaaaand…Kathy’s back!!!
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😂 And even for shorties like me, the lifts in the shoes would be a disappointment! Great ode, Kathy!!
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I turned into somewhat of a lurker in the past year or two. But who is counting? Love you guys.
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And love back to you, too 🥰
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A tall man is catnip to me and I do feel a slight irrational disappointment if RA isn’t the tallest man in the room (and I share your guilt about listening to another Audible narrator!)
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Me too. We are just so used to him being the tallest guy, somewhere to be found at the back of the room…
Do you remember that interview during the Hobbit promos in Canada? He was interviewed by a man who was a good bit taller than him, and I remember feeling really disturbed that he had to look up to that guy 😂
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I don’t remember the tallest man but there were so many Hobbit interviews at that time, they all blur into one, involving Kermit and pointed slippers!
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It was a true overkill of the best kind…
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Richard is about the same height as my husband (he’s 1.87m), which I guess is tall but I’m so used to it, it doesn’t seem so tall to me anymore. Here in NL people tend to be quite tall anyhow, Mr E sometimes feels like he is small compared to others we see walking around. I remember when I met RA, he almost felt smaller to me than Mr E, but maybe because he is more slight in stature in real life than he seems in pictures.
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He really has a way of making himself appear small, doesn’t he? That was my impression, too, at the various SDs I have attended. Possibly because he deliberately wants to make himself smaller so he doesn’t intimidate the fans (who, by virtue of mostly being women, are generally shorter than him)?
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