Comments on: Video from Sharon Kendrick’s Appearance at the Cheltenham Lit Festival

By: Lauren Malmsteen

Lauren Malmsteen — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:27:11 +0000

Hi Sharon, thanks for the reply. Yes, thinking about it Leonard is a wuss of the first order. I think I was thinking (?) about how Mellors and the idea of D H Lawrence had some potential and influence on those writers, which could be explored. Charles Ryder from Brideshead is another one, in that the hero has educated himself and worked his way up instead of being born into money.

I always feel uncomfortable with the aristocrats because, like Lord Chatterly, and like Lord Craven in Secret Garden, they are impotent, weak men in positions of power. (cf. Peter Sellers as Doctor Strangelove.) So I suppose I was saying that I like the hero to be driven, even progressive.

I also went to Portmeirion earlier this year. It really has to be experienced to be believed, doesn’t it?

By: Sharon Kendrick

Sharon Kendrick — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:24:53 +0000

Lauren, I agree and disagree with you. I’m afraid I thought Leonard Bast was a weak and pathetic man in Howard’s End – and the antithesis of a romantic hero. And I couldn’t get on with Time Traveller’s wife at all.

But I agree about Patrick MacGoohan – I absolutely ADORED him and recently visited “The Village” in Port Meirion: http://www.portmeirion-village.com/ It’s fantastic! Literally….. I read that he refused the Bond part because he was strictly moral and completely in love with his wife and didn’t want to kiss another woman…..which is pretty heroic.

By: Lauren Malmsteen

Lauren Malmsteen — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:20:52 +0000

“What other heroes would you have added to the choices?”

I would agree with the list posted so far, especially Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler’s Wife. That’s high on my list of favourite romances. I would like to add Oliver Mellors, the gardener from Lady Chatterley. There have been a few tv and film adaptations, and Mellors was played by both Ralph Bates and Sean Bean (who also plays Sharpe in the tv films).

Closely related to him is Leonard Bast, from Howerd’s End. He didn’t come across that well in the Film4 adaptation, but in the book he has a similar kind of idealism/romanticism to Mellors.

But my favourite alpha male hero is Patrick MacGoohan’s portrayal of Number Six in The Prisoner. I believe MacGoohan was offered the role of James Bond before Sean Connery, but he turned it down because he thought it was misogynistic. So instead he devised his own version, Number Six, who was much more romantic. I always like the enigma about him at the start of every episode where he gets in his sports car, drives up to Whitehall, marches up the corridor and bursts into his boss’s office to tell him where he can stick his job(!) He even has a batchelor pad (like Austin Powers). But he has a severe mistrust of women, which makes him a challenge.

By: India Grey

India Grey — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:28:43 +0000

Oooh Sharon– what a fabulous event to be part of and thanks for representing us all so elegantly and eloquently. Cheltenham isn’t that far away from me and I WISH I’d come down to cheer you on. It also happens that hot heroes are one of my very favourite topics of discussion. I was a Rupert Campbell Black girl at heart, having been seduced by him (not literally, to my eternal disappointment) at the age of 15 when he first appeared in Riders. However in the last book he revealed himself to be something of a racist so I have a vacancy to fill at the top of my list.

Can’t believe no-one’s (ie Abby Green) mentioned Edward Cullen. He’s definitely a contender for me.

By: mulberry

mulberry — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:21:05 +0000

Oh my. Mr Rochester? He’s up there with Heathcliff in my “Interesting to read about, but heroic- no way!” list of baaaaad Alpha heroes to avoid.
Laura and Sarah’s GH suggestions are spot on- I love all her heroes. Even the less overtly flashy and rakish ones are pure Alpha gold. My favourite- possibly Gareth from Sprig Muslin. I love the way that the plain and older heroine reawakens his belief in the possibility of love. Very low key, but superb.
Hmm Avon or Vidal, that’s a toughie! My first thought was Vidal, but then Avon, ah Avon. Much more the bad boy Alpha than Vidal, using her as a weapon in his personal vendetta, but somehow so much sexier than he should be!

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:58:50 +0000

LOL Sharon! I’ve never read Captain Corelli or seen the movie and now I don’t think I ever will, thanks for saving me the pain

@Laura, Big YES to Captain Wentworth from Persuasion! Even if just for the line in his letter to Anne: “You pierce my soul”. It’s one my favourite lines from literature.

By: Sharon Kendrick

Sharon Kendrick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:24:17 +0000

Ps. And Captain Corelli as a romantic hero? Are they MAD?
Think about it: he’s soft, thoughtful, enjoys a long chat, turns up like a vapid ghost year after year and makes (erroneous) assumption that heroine is married to another. AND THEY NEVER HAVE SEX.
Clearly, he’s gay.

By: Sharon Kendrick

Sharon Kendrick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:39:42 +0000

Georgette Heyer was featured (as a failed device to get a couple together) in an episode of Holby City on BBC 1 last night – couldn’t quite glimpse which one it was.

By: Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:41:46 +0000

I woke up in the night and thought ‘the Marquis of Vidal’ (strange things come to me when I sleep) and then I see Laura has also mentioned Georgette Heyer. I have an ongoing debate with the historical author Nicola Cornick on whether we prefer the Duke of Avon in These Old Shades or Vidal from Devil’s Cub.

By: Christina Hollis

Christina Hollis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:03:47 +0000

You’re a fabulous ambassador, Sharon. I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it, but these clips are a great idea!