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

[NegroniLover]

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?

Veronese.Great Painter and quick witted as well.

I’m not sure he was a historical figure, but for a long time I was obsessed by the beautiful fey and charismatic Jeff Buckley, sigh.

I agree with the op: Wilfred Owen was a far greater poet than Rupert Brooke. It's a shame that he died just before the end of the year; there would have been so much more poetry.

Rupert Brooke is so annoying. Read his letters to Katherine Cox and Noel Olivier.

My "crush" vote goes to Alexander Hamilton, after reading the Ron Chernow biography in 2004.
Poverty-stricken childhood, lost his mother in his early teens, absolutely no privilege, father ignored him. And yet he managed to become one of the most important citizens in the early American republic. He worked hard, had a lot of courage, and a staggering intellect.

This reminds me of the struggle that biographers go through: they spend years researching and writing about their subject. It must be so depressing, so wrenching, to have to finish the biography and let it go. They become obsessed with their subject so it must feel like a death and they're grieving when they have to send the book in for publication.

I was in love with Robin Hood when I was about 7.

When I was playing the Assassins Creed games with Ezio Auditore in, his mate was Niccolo Machiavelli. I was quite enamoured for a while.

And another Assassins Creed game set is Ancient Greece. Brasidas, an actual Spartan soldier.

I agree with the op: Wilfred Owen was a far greater poet than Rupert Brooke.

But we don't know what poetry Brooke might have written if he had lived through war as Owen did.

Wilfred Owen had such a profound affect on me that my ds2 is named after him... I hope to take ds2 to visit WO's grave in the future. ♥

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

I feel really sad for Beethoven. He had so much pain and suffering in his life, including but not limited to rejections by women he loved very deeply. And when he died, he was in terrible pain for several months, and nobody gave him anything to relieve it (he might not have wanted them to, but ...). And his music is out of this world! Yep. I have gigantic crush on him, and when I cross over, I would love to meet him.

I'm new here, and can't find an actual "reply" button. I did try to post something using the "Add post" button, and my post is now showing up inside of a pinkish box. Is there anything more I'm supposed to do? Has my post successfully been added to this thread? I'm afraid I'm not finding any instructions.

Well, now. I'm still trying to navigate this new (to me) forum. Please disregard this latest message. I clicked on "preview" to see what would happen, and I was told to write a new message, but didn't intend to.

Hi @Ladyfromcal
Your message posted fine!
It's nice to hear about your love for Beethoven 😍

@Ladyfromcal

the default settings means your own posts appear with a pink background so they’re easier for you to find, and the original posters are green.

I just stumbled on this thread and wanted to throw my hands up in the air! Mine is this guy. William Coningham, MP From Brighton, adopted brother to James Fitzjames, one of the officers from the doomed arctic expedition led by Franklin. He's very progressive for his time and is also a known art collector, and has been described as someone who's "a very cultivated man" by his contemporaries :)

Anyone who reads The Ministry of Time will fall in love with Graham Gore.

Some very hot scenes which kept me reading despite the confusing plot

@LunaNorth he is easy on the eyes on the terror s01!

@MatchaMama9 he looks v interesting. Can you tell us more about him & how you came across him in the first place?

My crush continues unabated & I'm leaning into it now & enjoying reading all that i can both by him & about him.

I find it weirdly comforting to think that even after death these extraordinary people live on in our minds & hearts. There's something profound in that.

@NegroniLover I wanted to write a fan fiction based on a gothic horror book that I just finished, set in Victorian era. So I did a quick research on pinterest to get some inspiration for the main character, described as having dark hair, with a long, thin face. This guy came up! I went to Wikipedia and read that he's the adopted brother of James FItzjames, from the doomed 1845 Arctic expedition led by John Franklin. Just so happens I'm obsessed with that expedition, thanks to the TV show 'The Terror'--season 01 (I think it's on Netflix UK now). So I did further research into him and his family.

All we know is that his mother adopted James Fitzjames as a baby, she ran a kind, loving household, and William and James loved each other like brothers. James Fitzjames left his estate to William should he perish on the expedition (which he did). William himself apparently spent that money on paying for expeditions to search for Fitzjames.

Aside from that connection, William was a politician an avid art collector, some of his pieces are in important museums around the world. He was also a keen ally to Lord Palmerston for a while, he was pro Suffragette, championed the rights of the workers to unite for fairer wages, he supported the secret ballot, doesn't like the fact that one of the princesses was still getting pocket money from the British crown, despite having married a German, an 'unlikely Victorian socialist'. All made me like him even more. Gorgeous guy all around. Then I searched the internet to see if anyone else ever feels like this about a historical figure, and found your post! Hello friend! You're not alone, I'm not alone! Yay! Makes me feel less 'freakish' having a crush on a historical person who's long dead, despite being happily married. Thank you for putting this out there, seems like there's quite a number of us who share similar disposition!

Virginia Woolf. She taught Vita Sackville-West a trick or two, in her potting shed, hopefully she could teach me 🌈.

I'm afraid I lost interest in Virginia Woolf after reading her awful opinion of Joyce / Ulysses. I still have a soft spot for Orlando, which is a great a great story, but she revealed a nasty snobbery which is hard to overlook.