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Have been bursting to tell you for weeks that Benedict and I are doing Letters Live in London at the end of March for five nights in the amazing Freemasons’ Hall.

We’ll be reading love letters from the extraordinary WW2 correspondence of Chris Barker and Bessie Moore (see the beautiful photo of...

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Thanks, Obama!

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Story of a blind father and his daughter

What you are seeing is a sightless man (72) with the name of Isse and his daughter (32), Luuil. They are from Somalia and live in a small room in a refugee camp. They are Muslims.

I met Juuil in the kitchen of the camp while she was playing with other refugee kids, laughing and having fun with them. As we began to have a little chat, she immediately told me about her father. 

Juuil led me to their room and introduced me to his old man, who didn’t speak very much. Isse is blind. I do not know why. 

This almost breaks my heart. Imagine being in a foreign land, with foreign rules, languages, everything. And THEN you can’t even see a single thing.

Juuil told me that they had to flee because of “boom boom - the Islamists”. That way Juuil lost two of her siblings three years ago. That means that the blind father lost two children of his own.

I cannot encompass how hard this must be. As a father myself, a short imagination of losing my two kids through a killing is one of the most hurtful things I can think of. 

For Isse, this is life. It’s a reality that will never go away.

Juuil didn’t seem to be sad or broken by what happened. But while talking to her, she gave me to understand that she is a silent, but very strong woman. A woman that is fighting for a better life. For her and her father.

Juuil and Isse, welcome to Germany. May you always be welcomed in this country. May you - some day - a good life without fear, without death and without wounds.  

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Awwww! <3

Cumbercupcake: Congrats Benedict and Sophie, somewhere Wanda throws confetti hehe

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I don’t want to know how you did it. I want to know why!

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My family has always been private about our time spent together. It was our way of keeping one thing that was ours, with a man we shared with an entire world. But now that’s gone, and I feel stripped bare. My last day with him was his birthday, and I will be forever grateful that my brothers and I got to spend that time alone with him, sharing gifts and laughter. He was always warm, even in his darkest moments. While I’ll never, ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, there’s minor comfort in knowing our grief and loss, in some small way, is shared with millions. It doesn’t help the pain, but at least it’s a burden countless others now know we carry, and so many have offered to help lighten the load. Thank you for that. To those he touched who are sending kind words, know that one of his favorite things in the world was to make you all laugh. As for those who are sending negativity, know that some small, giggling part of him is sending a flock of pigeons to your house to poop on your car. Right after you’ve had it washed. After all, he loved to laugh too… Dad was, is and always will be one of the kindest, most generous, gentlest souls I’ve ever known, and while there are few things I know for certain right now, one of them is that not just my world, but the entire world is forever a little darker, less colorful and less full of laughter in his absence. We’ll just have to work twice as hard to fill it back up again.

My only statement. My brothers’ are also online. Thank you for all your kindness, and goodbye for awhile guys. xo (via zeldawilliams)

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What if the characters of “Game of Thrones” live in the 80s? 

The illustrator Mike Wrobel is a huge fan of the series, and did an amazing job: reinvented the inhabitants of Westeros as if they were in the 80s.

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A man who deserves to be happy

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Mark Gatiss, photograph by Christian Sinibaldi

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Cabin Pressure - Zurich: speeches and bloopers

This is a write down of David Tyler’s introduction speech, John Finnemore’s welcome and thank you speech, as well as a gag reel of sorts. There are no spoilers, except for the names of the cast present. 

Read More

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so I was skimming over people’s Valentines messages in The West Australian newspaper and then there was this. I CAN’T EVEN!

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Bwahahaha!

Oh brain, you dumb-dumb.

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