Scouting for Boys in the English Countryside: Mr Darcy

Well, here we are, and it's about time I got around to it: The inaugural (eek! tricky to spell) scouting of good looking boys. And because my charming co-scout Stephanie is, as I type, boarding her plane for the mighty rainy isle of Britain (via the mighty hot isle of Hong Kong) where she will make her home for the next two years, our first victim is that man among British men, the inspiration for all heroes of contemporary romances* ...Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy.


You can really see why people went by their last names. It was quicker.

Anyway. As Mr Darcy is, as is common knowledge, a work of fiction, and, sadly, Pride and Prejudice is not a picture book, we shall be forced to endure a head to head battle of BBC Darcy (aka Colin Firth) vs Movie Darcy (aka that guy from Spooks....Matthew MacFadyen?)




En avant!




The Greater Darcy of BBC.





Other names: Colin Firth (but let us suspend our disbelief for now).
Distinguishing features: Lovely sideburns, an upper crust accent, and trousers that come up very high without looking silly. Until he gets married, and then I can't look at them.
Commonly found: Ballrooms and very fancy houses; on horseback; occasionally amphibious.
Habits: Striding manfully about England, staring lovingly at Elizabeth in drawing rooms.



The Lesser Spotted Emo Darcy.






Other names: Matthew MacFadyen, but I can't spell it.
Distinguishing features: A lovely haircut. Also, a manner which suggests reserve.
Commonly found: Roaming the countryside in front of picturesque scenery.
Habits: Not being tempted by tolerable women; being shy.


This is briefer than my intention; but I've just noticed the time. Time for bed!


*it's true! Give me a hero, any hero, and I undertake to demonstrate the relationship between him and Mr Darcy. **

** By which I mean the way in which he is based on Mr Darcy, not that following their wedding, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth separated and he invented the time machine, allowing him to travel freely through time and space and play flourish-the-sword with other heroes. ***

***Although it would be interesting if he had. But then he is only fictional, and we cannot expect everything.