Hey ladies...

[Pobs]

Thought I'd stick my head up and say hello. I knew Christian years ago; he was four years below me at school, and he came up to Cambridge (to a different college; I think he was at Clare) while I was still there as well. I never knew him at all well, since he was an awful lot younger than I am, but I do bump into him very occasionally. (It's funny how four years seems a much larger age gap when you're sixteen than when you're twenty six!)

Another old friend from school mentioned that Christian was doing Harry Potter, which is what made me look him up on the web. I didn't actually realise that his acting career had taken off until I heard about Harry Potter; he was brilliant at school and at university, though. We did a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in my final year, when he must have been all of fourteen or fifteen, and he played Puck. Even then, he was obviously an extremely good actor, and he really stole the show. (The master who was in charge of drama then left the school this year, and I went to one of the last plays he directed. It wasn't anything like as good as I'd remembered that particular Midsummer Night's Dream to be, and we talked about it, but he didn't mention how well Christian had done; I wonder whether he knew?) Christian also sang in a school production of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera the year that I left. I don't remember what part he played; it wasn't one of the main ones, but I think he had a solo...all that I remember is that he wore a bowler hat for it!

I just found this board by doing a search on Christian, and thought it was brilliant; I had no idea he had so many fans (or really that he was doing as well as he is; I only knew he'd done a little TV). He was a lovely kid at school; really polite and obviously extremely bright.

Anyway; I'm wittering. I really just wanted to say that you're doing a great job here; keep it up.

[MsPoet]

AMSND is my favorite of the plays. And I played Puck in a scaled-downversion of it in high school. So it is indeed magical to hear (I'm listening to the music of Fawkes of the COS soundtrack as I write this right now--talk about magical! ....) that about Christian...even the *thought* of it.

Thank-you,

Donna

[freelancer]

MsPoet - How did you get your hands on the HPCOS soundtrack?!

[Angelamyte]

hey pobs!
it's really great hearing from u cuz we know nothing about CC's personal life and it's really wonderful having insight on that aspect.... ;D ;D

btw...Ms.Poet...
is the cos soundtrack on KAZAA??
;D

hey, Pobs, i hope you won`t disappear like other posters who "knew" Christian. Not that I don`t believe you it`s just that when people disappear after first "I know CC" message you become suspicious. Anyway, stick around to tell us all what you remember about him. You say that he was lovely and polite. I watched him on Forsyte saga and saw tons of pictures of him and he seems so repressed, I dunno how to explain, like repressing something. Was he a no-smile kid back then too? He`s kinda spooky which is interesting, though.

[Pobs]

Heh. No probs; I do see what you mean. Please be aware that I really don't know him at all well, although I've friends who are closer to him.

As regards being smiley...he seemed a lot more sort of outgoing at school than he was at Cambridge. (Although there was a gap inbetween of several years when I didn't see him, so I've no idea how he was later in his school career.) I didn't go to Cambridge until I was 21, and I finished my Masters last year. I think that Christian went straight after school; certainly, I'd pretty much forgotten all about him until I bumped into him there for the first time, which must have been in my second year. He was always very nice, remembered who I was, said hi and so forth, but we were never close. (Another friend who was much closer in age to him and in the same college knows him better; I can ask that friend some questions if you'd like, but I obviously don't want to get too personal.) I did think that he looked rather pale and underweight while we were at Cambridge, especially compared to how he'd looked a few years back...but you *do* change a lot when you're a teenager!

Just one thing I'd noticed reading this site: as regards the Bedford stuff...I am not at all aware that Christian has anything to do with Bedford at all. He certainly didn't go to school there. My family are from a town close to Bedford, and when I was boarding at Westminster there were, as far as we knew, absolutely no other kids from the school who lived in the Bedford area; it would have been very handy for sharing lifts home at the weekend if there had been!

I have a dim memory of Christian playing the clarinet when he was about 13. He was certainly popular back then as well, although I think people found him intimidating because he was so bright.

Here`s the list of questions which aren`t too personal (by personal I mean love life related things):

Does he have siblings? He looks so kid sister type to me.

He`s indeed underweight, totally ghostly creature, glowing pale skin and all so was he chubby when he went to school with you?

What do you mean he was intimidating bright? I read an interview with him and I like how his mind works and I know that he won a scholarship so I`m curious about his "bright boy" image. Actors and extreme brightness, that doesn`t walk hand in hand.

Now the most important one - what motherf*cking skin cleanser he uses cause from what I saw his skin is picture perfect! I want that stuff too, creames, cleansers, toner whatever. Just don`t tell me it`s genetic. Not that I`m zitty kitty.

Is he rotten? Stuck-up? Fame hungry? He has the most innocent smile ever, cross my heart, you`ll see when this Forsyte saga episode airs and his resume reveals he doesn`t suffer from vanity cause most of his roles are challenging instead of typical pretty boy/ hero stuff.

How come he ended up at cambridge? Loaded parents? Scholarship?

Can he ride a horse?

That will be all from me for today. Don`t disappear!

[Rachel]

Ohh - interesting. I'd like to know more and more about Christian. I just learned a lot from reading this thread. I don't want to ask so many questions.. so I'll just wait a while until Romana's questions are answered.

[Angelamyte]

;DWOW!!
Loads o' questions there Romana...
We don't wanna scare Pobs off there u know...

oh well!

there really isn't that much info of CC on the net, so it's great that i actually learnt stuff now...and yeah, try to get as much info as you can without sounding ....what's the word....weird! LOL

anyways, he's probably spooky because of the character he plays...and he might smile more if it were a more fun character...i really wanna see him smile more...there's only one pic of him smiling and it's not even a smile...just his hand holding his cheek...i want more...I never even saw the d**n guy's teeth! LOL but judging by Rom.'s response...they're PERFECTO! ;D ;D

And btw...thanks probs for giving us sum info on CC...becuz...we don't have any!!! ROFLOL

[MsPoet]

Hmmm.....Romana sure asked a lot of questions!!!! LOL
Seriously, the ONE question I'm most interested in learning is about his siblings. If so, how many, and what are their ages.

As for Christian's seriousness, when I was a very young little girl I was very smile-y and bubbly and toward the end of elementary school it began to go away....people still sometimes say to me, "Smile, Donna," but in reality if I'm looking really serious it's because I'm thinking !!! Maybe that's the same way with him.

Romana I find your posts generally amusing....but...your comment that "Actors and extreme brightness, that doesn't walk in hand," is offensive to me. I was a theatre major and still act....and some of the people I love/loved most are actors. From my experience, actors are usually the only people with whom I can mesh and bond with because generally they tend to keep track of what's going on in the world. They also tend to be more open-minded and spiritual (not religious). IMHO, the greatest actors are those who use their entire selves/souls-----*not only* their brains---to compile their performance. I'm sure there are stupid actors out there somewhere----just as there are stupid drivers, teachers (of which I'm one--but not a *stupid* teacher <g>), lawyers, singers, etc ad nauseum.

Oh, re the COS soundtrack: the Leaky Cauldron has a link in the archives section around Oct. 11, thereabouts. Or snitchseeker.com has a direct link to it....it's back a week or so so you have to just click to the next main page or the next one after that.

[Rachel]

You know, I guess this is just me, but I thought that CC would be more of an only child with no siblings. I don't know, there's something about him that makes me think that. Perhaps it's his character?

Personally I like CC when he's not smiling. But then again, I ( or we? ) haven't even seen him smile. I love that, it just seems mysterious. I like mystery in a man

[Pobs]

Eesh. About the siblings thing, I'm really not sure, but I'll ask. I *think* I remember a sister, but I have friends who will actually know, so you're probably better off getting it from them!

Christian wasn't plump or anything at school; he was perfectly normal looking as far as thirteen year old boys go. I do consider him to be underweight now, or at least when I last saw him; I'll probably see him in October, when we have a reunion thingy, so can better comment on it then.

God knows about horses.

I think that the UK uni system is rather different that it is in the States. To go to Cambridge, we didn't have to be well off; there are student loans, government funding and other things which make even the best unis accessible to everybody; at least, everybody who was clever enough to get in. Oxford, Cambridge and the other unis of a similar level are hard to get into, though; depending on your Cambridge college, there were very tricky interviews and exams, and your school exam results (A levels for the Brits, who know this already) had to be nigh on perfect. I was lucky being a graduate already when I went, because it was assumed I was bright, although I didn't get into the college I applied for; I was pooled and was accepted by another. For people entering at 18 it is rather different from the way I experienced it.

Being a scholar at Westminster is a real achievement. Westminster is already a very selective school, and in any one year, there were ten of them; there was a specific exam they took at 12 or 13, and only ten boys a year were accepted for the scholarship. You were obviously exceptional if you got a scholarship, and it did make other kids awkward around them.

This is entirely conjecture, but Christian did seem a lot less happy when I saw him again at uni, rather than at school. I don't know whether something happened inbetween; from my own experience, I can offer that I found Westminster much more congenial than Cambridge, but that's not the same for everybody. I work in the music industry; I'm a session singer, and I also work as a freelance journalist for a few magazines and newspapers. Doing this stuff you become very aware about the way you look; you need standfirst shots for magazine articles and occasionally end up on pop videos and stuff. It must be much worse for actors; I suspect that Christian decided that he looks better when he's *not* smiley, and maybe that's the reason why his publicity shots are a bit miserable; I know mine are!

Skin. God knows. Last time I saw him, it looked fine; he's probably just grown out of the adolescent hormone thing. They never struck me as birthmarks; they're just very big moles.

As regards actors and brightness...I know a few actors, famous and unheard of, largely because of my work. They're typically very clever, either academically, or in a way where they have an innate understanding of a text. The people I know who have been successful have all been very, very informed, educated and bright.

OK. Very long post. I don't anticipate becoming a regular here, although I'll probably drop in a few times a week because I really want Christian to do well, and I'm delighted that you're all so keen on him. Do keep asking questions; I'll do my best to answer them, and if I don't know the answer I'm sure I know someone who does.

Like I said, I will probably see him next month, because we have a big school reunion party. I guess I can ask him a few questions, (and can probably drop 'can you ride a horse' into the conversation without too many qualms,) but please keep them within reason! I'm not terribly happy giving my real name or any specific details here, for obvious reasons, but I'm perfectly happy with PMs and so forth...I may take a few days responding, though, because I have a job to do!

[Angelamyte]

really big birthmarks..wow...kinda blunt there buddy...ROFLOL

OMG...anyways...when's the reunion? u said in nov? is it by chance on the 10th or the 15th? why those dates i dunno...just wanted to know really...

thnx for the info...

bye ;D

I think you`re wrong about Chrsitian "deciding he looks better as smileless dude" thing because judging by his pictures he has no idea what`s his best angle and doesn`t give a sh*t. Any Hollywood star who I don`t associate with brightness would a) cover his moles with make-up, b) turn the mole-less cheek anytime the photoshoot is on, c) hit solarium before posing in a white T-nuts and that would be either Tommy Hilfiger or GAP one, d) wouldn`t use his hand to produce semi-smile for sure but would flash a T-Rex grin to show off fake teeth. Christian seems genuinly semi-sad, I doubt it`s a pose cause sadness isn`t as wide appealing as lucky-go-happyness and tough guy-ness.

As for Bedford thingy, he was there because there`s a review of his stage work saying he returned to Bedford to do a play or something. He was 20.

I asked about horseriding cause his legs are slightly O-shaped (looked like that in Forsyte saga) like with people who ride horses but it`s also typical for skinny ones as well.


Thanx for answering Qs!

[Rachel]

Oh wow lots of information on Christian there. Thanks, I learned some new things about him.

I decided myself that I look better by not smiling.. I know some friends who think that about themselves too. I don't know what Christian is thinking about his shots. I want to see him smile, and when I do, I'll come up with an opinion from me about how he looks. Although I'm sure he looks excellent either way, smiling or not