My heart goes out to the wounded and to the families and friends of those who were killed today.

My latest article to hit the Internet is about an old topic: King Richard III. Called "Fit for a King," the article takes a look at newly released research findings about the king, and the fact that the historians seemed to have overlooked the sort of questions that interest the rest of us.

For example,  "the findings indicated that Richard III wasn't a hunchback, as Shakespeare depicted him, but suffered from scoliosis. That alone requires a reconsideration of Richard III (along with an updated, more PC-version of Victor Hugo's 'The Scoliosis Patient of Notre-Dame')."


Other questions include: 

• What was Richard III's favorite cuisine? Medieval Leicester probably did not offer a range of cuisines - it would help if researchers found a 15th century equivalent of Yelp - but it's hard to imagine a time when England did not have great Indian food.
• Where did Richard III eat? If he dined out in the homes of friends, did Richard III bring a hostess gift? If he ate at a tavern, did he pick up the tab? Or did he try get out of it by asking: "Can you pay this time - I must have left my wallet in my other pantaloons"?
  
• Richard III killed many friends and family members on his path to the throne, he made a lot of enemies - so did anyone want to be seated next to the king or were they forced to? Were certain subjects - topics, not people - known to be off-limits? Like, "Don't mention snow or he'll talk your ear off about that 'winter of his discontent'"?
  

This is the first of two articles I've written about historic figures who lived in the 14th and 15th centuries. I know that's hardly topical humor but I'm sure my history teachers would appreciate these. (Perhaps not.) I'm still developing the second one in my attempt to be one of the best medieval-times humorists working today.