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Original poster

Have you ever had a crush / fallen in love with an historical figure?

220 replies

NegroniLover · 12/10/2022 21:12

This has happened to me in the most unexpected manner. I'm in my early 50s (old enough to know better) & I've developed a massive obsession / crush on a long dead writer. It's so weird & had never happened to me before.
Please tell me someone else has experienced this?

OP posts:
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15
WorkerBeeeee · 15/10/2022 19:29

Elvis.
JFK.
James Dean.

TarquinGyrfalcon · 15/10/2022 19:56

Thomas Seymour - I think he gets bad press. He was obviously a real charmer and hopeless romantic optimist until it all went wrong for him

SOMumm · 22/04/2023 23:26

William Morris - if he was out that day, DG Rossetti

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VeganSoulFood · 22/04/2023 23:33

Hibernia87 · 15/10/2022 17:29

@EdieLedwell ohhh yes Michael Collins and that West Cork accent. In my mind, I replace Lady Lavery😆
Anytime I go home, I visit Béal na Bláth and lay a single rose

I always imagine he was a beast in bed, but perhaps lacked finesse…

My crushes are John Donne, Rembrandt, and Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man.

Have you ever had a crush / fallen in love with an historical figure?
Catsmere · 23/04/2023 00:21

Yes, twice. Both kings. Not going to say their names.

Viviennemary · 23/04/2023 00:24

When I read Katherine by Anya Seton I did have a crush on John of Gaunt. Also Henry II was quite fascinating.

GobbieMaggie · 23/04/2023 00:24

No, how bizarre.

LunaNorth · 23/04/2023 00:25

Thomas Cromwell, particularly voiced by Ben Miles in the Wolf Hall audiobooks, but I wouldn’t kick the Mark Rylance version out of bed, either.

Original poster
NegroniLover · 23/04/2023 01:36

Glad to see this thread again! I'd forgotten about it. But not about my beloved Joyce. A few months ago I went to Trieste to see where he'd lived. You can do trail of the places he lived & worked & it was strangely moving to walk those same streets over 100 years later

I lit a candle for him in the Greek orthodox Church he loved to visit.

I surprised myself with how emotional I felt & shed a quiet tear & couldn't even tell you why...

OP posts:
Catsmere · 23/04/2023 03:55

NegroniLover · 14/10/2022 06:34

I'm loving the painting crushes & they're reminded me of the first time I saw Frans Hals The Laughing Cavliere in the flesh in The Wallace Collection. I was about 19 or 20 & was viewing on a university trip.

I wasn't particularly a fan of that painting but I was wandering around & came across it & it gave me the weirdest sensation - that gaze is 100% carnal & those eyes give the impression that he can actually see you & is mentally undressing you. I actually squirmed as I looked at it. It was a totally visceral reaction on my behalf I became a little bit obsessed & fell in love with both him & the power of incredible painting. I bought postcard in the gift shop & kept it for years.
That painting made me feel like he could see into my soul & he was 'knowing' of what I might want- I think I need to revisit him - it's been about 30 years now

Isn't this thread a beautiful example of the sheer power of great art (writing, poetry, music, painting ) though? That makes me happy!

I saw the Laughing Cavalier long ago and while I didn’t find anything carnal about him, I could see why the painting had the name. Nothing to do with the upturned moustache being mistaken for a grin as some have claimed, that man has a profoundly amused expression imo, and it’s all about the crinkles around the eyes.

Catsmere · 23/04/2023 04:00

PorkPieAndAPickledOnion · 13/10/2022 01:09

Rufus Sewell shouldn’t be allowed out. He’s pure filth. Look at those eyes.

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Remember him in Cold Comfort Farm? Obnoxious but so tasty. 😂

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 04:05

@NegroniLover
partial to a bit of James Connolly myself .

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 04:13

@bookworm14 my almost 17 year old daughter has just started John Donne in A level English Lit. She came home yesterday not impressed. Said he seemed a bit of a chancer !😆She is far more sensible than I ever was at her age and is rarely impressed by men !😆

WellPlaced · 23/04/2023 04:17

No, because that would be a bit weird

StoatofDisarray · 23/04/2023 06:25

DuckonaBike · 12/10/2022 21:30

Yes, mine is Ernest Shackleton. This is completely normal.

Shackleton! Now we're talking! Smile

PorkPieAndAPickledOnion · 23/04/2023 08:28

Catsmere · 23/04/2023 04:00

Remember him in Cold Comfort Farm? Obnoxious but so tasty. 😂

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Oh yes. Seth was my introduction to his charms.

Original poster
NegroniLover · 23/04/2023 09:08

Why is it a bit weird @WellPlaced ?
It seems there are lots of us working who experience it ?

OP posts:
pollyhemlock · 23/04/2023 11:05

Cheekymaw · 23/04/2023 04:13

@bookworm14 my almost 17 year old daughter has just started John Donne in A level English Lit. She came home yesterday not impressed. Said he seemed a bit of a chancer !😆She is far more sensible than I ever was at her age and is rarely impressed by men !😆

See if you can get her to read Katherine Rundell’s recent biography of Donne, Super Infinite. It’s not that long but really brings him to life. Flawed but fascinating.

pollyhemlock · 23/04/2023 11:06

Oh, and yes to Shackleton. I have a bit of a thing for Antarctic explorers generally.

Catsmere · 23/04/2023 12:14

PorkPieAndAPickledOnion · 23/04/2023 08:28

Oh yes. Seth was my introduction to his charms.

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First thing I saw him in was Middlemarch, the next (and first I remember much of) would have been Hamlet.

earearearear · 23/04/2023 12:29

It's Louis XV for me 😂

Have you ever had a crush / fallen in love with an historical figure?
Daisychainsandglitter · 23/04/2023 15:18

Charles I for me. Such lovely hair!

EvilRingahBitch · 23/04/2023 16:23

Catsmere · 23/04/2023 12:14

First thing I saw him in was Middlemarch, the next (and first I remember much of) would have been Hamlet.

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I saw him three times as Septimus in Arcadia in 1993. Absolutely swoon-worthy.

SpringLobelia · 23/04/2023 16:31

Well, I have had a crush on Ezra Jennings (fictitious figure from the Moonstone) like forever. It was the tortured misunderstood hero thing that got me.

Similar for Beethoven (although tbf that is probably because I adore Beethoven's music and adore gary Oldman who played Beethoven in a film so the two just naturally came together... )

SpringLobelia · 23/04/2023 16:33

Oooh! I have just realised.... one of my former line managers looked pretty much how i imagine Ezra Jennings looked and I had a bit of a thing for him too for a while. (Until I recalled I am thoroughly and happily married and he was gay anyway).

Interesting....