Tom Hiddleston- Letters Live, All this I did Without You

Sdílet
Vložit
  • čas přidán 6. 12. 2015
  • All this I did without you
    A letter from Gerald Durrell to Lee McGeorge, read by Tom Hiddleston. From Letters Live. letterslive.com/letter/all-thi...
    no copyright infringement intended, credit to the owner
    We are hosting a fundraiser for Unicef UK to mark Tom Hiddleston’s birthday. You can also enter a raffle to win fun prizes. The fundraiser + raffle are open to all countries. Winners will be selected February 10, 2020.
    www.justgiving.com/OurGloriou...

Komentáře • 1K

  • @lacicake
    @lacicake Před 5 lety +3705

    He could read the McDonald's menu and it'd be the best thing I've ever heard.

  • @Theblackdragon136
    @Theblackdragon136 Před 7 lety +1790

    I feel like these are vows and im like yes tom i will marry you

  • @ayamewilliams2065
    @ayamewilliams2065 Před 6 lety +1949

    This is why we need to go back to letter writing

    • @danamichaels6936
      @danamichaels6936 Před 6 lety +51

      this is more than a letter, this is a damn masterpiece!

    • @Nimloth31
      @Nimloth31 Před 5 lety +4

      Ayame Williams Do these readings always happen?

    • @Nimloth31
      @Nimloth31 Před 5 lety +2

      Ayame Williams Where did it happen? I'm not british...

    • @May04bwu
      @May04bwu Před 5 lety +1

      Right? I miss it.

    • @alyssabiffin5489
      @alyssabiffin5489 Před 5 lety +31

      i still write letters many of which are like this one that i never sent out. i'm 16 and unlike most teenagers i love poetry. out of all of it i find it more better to send letters than text, a letter has a lot more meaning to me than a text. do you think so as well ?

  • @mathani83
    @mathani83 Před 8 lety +831

    It is a good thing that he was not my teacher in school. I would never be able to concentrate, except on the beauty of his voice.

    • @kittandragon1048
      @kittandragon1048 Před 6 lety +49

      Mathani Ralte
      If he was my damn teacher, boy, I'd remember EVERYTHING from that class!

    • @charliem.p.4864
      @charliem.p.4864 Před 6 lety +22

      Solance Akebana I would be like these girls in Indiana Jones with "I love you" drawn on their eyelids.

    • @MultiChacha20
      @MultiChacha20 Před 6 lety +5

      So true!!!!

    • @sanya5538
      @sanya5538 Před 4 lety

      lol I have d same problem with me econ teacher... I must say it is very distracting

    • @annabelle7123
      @annabelle7123 Před 3 lety +2

      And his face

  • @mollykoenig7009
    @mollykoenig7009 Před 7 měsíci +84

    I wasn't expecting this to make me cry.
    I write letters to my wife. She is the most magnificent, loving, tempestuous, adventurous, intelligent, fascinating, painfully beautiful, and ever so wonderfully tangible creature I could have ever hoped to have come across. She's perfectly imperfect. Flawlessly flawed. She's promised to forever be mine, and I will spend the rest of my foolish, clumsy, bumbling existence striving to make her happy.

    • @lucialu2x
      @lucialu2x Před 5 měsíci +6

      Wow how lucky she is, to have such one to adore her like that. You have the heart in you sir.

    • @mollykoenig7009
      @mollykoenig7009 Před 5 měsíci +5

      @lucialu2x Ma'am* ;) and she loves me just as much. So wonderful in this long life, to have a person like her.

    • @Redlox70
      @Redlox70 Před 4 měsíci +2

    • @susannepriddy9095
      @susannepriddy9095 Před měsícem

      I try cards for the major holidays. Very few to None are reciprocated . Wait ✋ years ago I got lottery tickets LOL Happy St PATRICK'S DAY everyone🫑🥝🍀

    • @user-iw5vt9jd9x
      @user-iw5vt9jd9x Před dnem +1

      You are such a sweet person.

  • @virly1109
    @virly1109 Před 8 lety +1096

    i always love him saying "darling" 😄😄😄

  • @stephanieking6048
    @stephanieking6048 Před 8 lety +1493

    His voice is music to my ears. Damn. I could listen to him all day. *swoons*

    • @renea228
      @renea228 Před 8 lety +5

      +Stephanie Reyes same for me!

    • @jasmineyoung2071
      @jasmineyoung2071 Před 8 lety +4

      +Stephanie Reyes same here

    • @brennstone
      @brennstone Před 8 lety +18

      +Stephanie Reyes And the way he says "I love you..."

    • @mariannem2594
      @mariannem2594 Před 7 lety +4

      Chris Evans uggggggggggg same I just freaking love this man

    • @hiddleboners6376
      @hiddleboners6376  Před 6 lety +19

      Do a try not to Laugh Challenge

  • @telemachus7732
    @telemachus7732 Před 7 měsíci +17

    This man EMBODIES grace and royal behavior.
    Even if he is acting, he UNDERSTANDS the persona.

  • @tinadambrino1026
    @tinadambrino1026 Před 8 lety +595

    this is just so heartfelt. that man was so in love with her. do men still have it in their heart to write I don't know but it is lovely

    • @sapphirestonecastle228
      @sapphirestonecastle228 Před 6 lety +8

      Tina Dambrino I am captivated with his voice and so with the text his reading. Imagining my hubby is reading this letter to me, that I know it's impossible. Lol!

    • @anandadaquino3604
      @anandadaquino3604 Před 6 lety +31

      Yes, there are men like him yet, BUT they are not very common, it is so hard to find them.

    • @danamichaels6936
      @danamichaels6936 Před 6 lety +12

      I think they do. Not like this probably since the English language is so bastardized now.

    • @anandadaquino3604
      @anandadaquino3604 Před 6 lety +13

      Dana Michaels well, I am Brazilian and my ex is a fucking bastard with words. I have some e-mails from him absolutly beautiful. That man really loved me.

    • @calkestis5817
      @calkestis5817 Před 6 lety +8

      People today generally can’t write anyway

  • @user-il3sw5is7j
    @user-il3sw5is7j Před 6 lety +907

    An Authorized Biography by Douglas Botting -1999):
    My darling McGeorge,
    You said that things seemed clearer when they were written down. Well, here with a very boring letter in which I will try and put everything down so that you may read and re-read it in horror at your folly in getting involved with me. Deep breath.
    To begin with I love you with a depth and passion that I have felt for no one else in this life and if it astonishes you it astonishes me as well. Not, I hasten to say, because you are not worth loving. Far from it. It’s just that, first of all, I swore I would not get involved with another woman. Secondly, I have never had such a feeling before and it is almost frightening. Thirdly, I would never have thought it possible that another human being could occupy my waking (and sleeping) thoughts to the exclusion of almost everything else. Fourthly, I never thought that - even if one was in love - one could get so completely besotted with another person, so that a minute away from them felt like a thousand years. Fifthly, I never hoped, aspired, dreamed that one could find everything one wanted in one person. I was not such an idiot as to believe this was possible. Yet in you I have found everything I want: you are beautiful, gay, giving, gentle, idiotically and deliciously feminine, sexy, wonderfully intelligent and wonderfully silly as well. I want nothing else in this life than to be with you, to listen and watch you (your beautiful voice, your beauty), to argue with you, to laugh with you, to show you things and share things with you, to explore your magnificent mind, to explore your wonderful body, to help you, protect you, serve you, and bash you on the head when I think you are wrong … Not to put too fine a point on it I consider that I am the only man outside mythology to have found the crock of gold at the rainbow’s end.

    • @user-il3sw5is7j
      @user-il3sw5is7j Před 6 lety +284

      But - having said all that - let us consider things in detail. Don’t let this become public but … well, I have one or two faults. Minor ones, I hasten to say. For example, I am inclined to be overbearing. I do it for the best possible motives (all tyrants say that) but I do tend (without thinking) to tread people underfoot. You must tell me when I am doing it to you, my sweet, because it can be a very bad thing in a marriage.
      Right. Second blemish. This, actually, is not so much a blemish of character as a blemish of circumstance. Darling I want you to be you in your own right and I will do everything I can to help you in this. But you must take into consideration that I am also me in my own right and that I have a headstart on you … What I am trying to say is that you must not feel offended if you are sometimes treated simply as my wife. Always remember that what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts. But I am an established ‘creature’ in the world, and so - on occasions - you will have to live in my shadow. Nothing gives me less pleasure than this but it is a fact of life that has to be faced.
      Third (and very important and nasty) blemish: jealousy. I don’t think you know what jealousy is (thank God) in the real sense of the word. I know that you have felt jealousy over Lincoln’s wife and child, but this is what I call normal jealousy, and this - to my regret - is not what I’ve got. What I have got is a black monster that can pervert my good sense, my good humour and any goodness that I have in my make-up. It is really a Jekyll and Hyde situation … my Hyde is stronger than my good sense and defeats me, hard though I try. As I told you, I have always known that this lurks within me, but I could control it, and my monster slumbered and nothing happened to awake it. Then I met you and I felt my monster stir and become half awake when you told me of Lincoln and others you have known, and with your letter my monster came out of its lair, black, irrational, bigoted, stupid, evil, malevolent. You will never know how terribly corrosive jealousy is; it is a physical pain as though you had swallowed acid or red hot coals. It is the most terrible of feelings. But you can’t help it - at least I can’t, and God knows I’ve tried. I don’t want any ex-boyfriends sitting in church when I marry you. On our wedding day I want nothing but happiness, both for you and me, and I know I won’t be happy if there is a church full of your ex-conquests. When I marry you I will have no past, only a future: I don’t want to drag my past into our future and I don’t want you to do it, either. Remember I am jealous of you because I love you. You are never jealous of something you don’t care about. O.K. enough about jealousy.
      Now let me tell you something
      I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises, on land where it floods forest and mountains with honey coloured light, at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multicoloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vast ocean. I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans’ feathers.
      I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blue as a kingfisher or transparent as glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderously and murderously.
      I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child; winds as tender and warm as a lover’s breath; winds that carried the astringent smell of salt and the death of seaweeds; winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a million flowers. Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten.
      I have known silence: the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; the implacable stony silence of a deep cave; the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotised and stilled into silence by the eye of the sun; the silence when great music ends.
      I have heard summer cicadas cry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones. I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies. I have heard the Keas calling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea.
      I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to their sleek golden wives, the crisp staccato admonishment of the Rattlesnake, the cobweb squeak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather. I have heard Wolves baying at a winter’s moon, Red howlers making the forest vibrate with their roaring cries. I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.
      I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top. I have seen flying fish, skittering like quicksilver across the blue waves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails. I have seen Spoonbills flying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky. I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower blue sea, creating a Versailles of fountain with their breath. I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun irons their wings smooth. I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass. I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil’s hoof. I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of Dolphins. I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things … but -
      All this I did without you. This was my loss.
      All this I want to do with you. This will be my gain.
      All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company, for your laugh, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips, body, and above all for your sweet, ever surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it is my privilege to delve.
      Letter to his fiancée Lee, (31 July 1978), published in Gerald Durrell: An Authorized Biography by Douglas Botting (1999)

    • @MsButterflysting
      @MsButterflysting Před 6 lety +91

      Thank you for taking the time, what a poignant letter indeed. How lovely to hear it read aloud with a polished voice.

    • @girishbhalchandra1580
      @girishbhalchandra1580 Před 5 lety +25

      @@user-il3sw5is7j bless you.

    • @bealatorre9657
      @bealatorre9657 Před 5 lety +16

      Thank you for doing this.

    • @plls2880
      @plls2880 Před 4 lety +9

      @@user-il3sw5is7j Thank you!

  • @GCblastercadet
    @GCblastercadet Před 7 lety +280

    close your eyes and imagine Loki

  • @leonshargo
    @leonshargo Před 3 lety +2131

    To all the young ladies out there: don't settle for anything less than this...

    • @WaffleKing614
      @WaffleKing614 Před 3 lety +96

      I don't think my heart would ever let me anyways💀

    • @ryder4553
      @ryder4553 Před 3 lety +27

      @@WaffleKing614 love your username xD

    • @annd8396
      @annd8396 Před 3 lety +45

      Really..? Lol 😂
      I’m jealous because I love you.??!
      Wonder how many wife beaters have said that..?!
      On yer bike mate 🤣

    • @saniyakhan86
      @saniyakhan86 Před 3 lety +9

      We won't ❤️

    • @paulandstephanie1
      @paulandstephanie1 Před 3 lety +63

      But one should also consider their own qualities to attract such a mate, make sure a person isn't "settling for less" with you.

  • @Sissymosier
    @Sissymosier Před 8 lety +827

    whatever woman is blessed enough to end up with him....Jesus, can he read the hell out of poetry (I know it's a letter but very poetic)....I love the way he says 'everything'

    • @Nocturnes1984
      @Nocturnes1984 Před 6 lety +14

      I don't understand how you can judge someone only by his voice.... don't get me wrong, I quite like him aswell but he could be a total asshole behind the voice...yet you think he is some kind of god, ...because of his voice?
      Women rly need to look further than the outside...men aswell though...

    • @kimberlyjeanne9456
      @kimberlyjeanne9456 Před 5 lety +15

      Sara Mosier He could just read off the shopping list for me and I’d melt lol

    • @angelasteely3314
      @angelasteely3314 Před 5 lety +20

      "Besotted" is my new favorite word.

  • @krown4135
    @krown4135 Před 8 lety +529

    Oh sweet Jesus.. Listening to him reading that letter was so wonderful.. I swear to God he's sweeter than chocolate.. I can listen to his voice all day and night long.. I am charmed.. and obviously doomed but so beautifully.. damnit

    • @fireruby544
      @fireruby544 Před 8 lety +5

      Let's not forget, he's not the one who actually wrote the letter.

    • @krown4135
      @krown4135 Před 8 lety +10

      No, but he is the who reads it with such a delight, I enjoy listening to his voice.. And by the way he doesn't need to write it, either way he stays one extraordinary and different person in a good way :)

    • @fireruby544
      @fireruby544 Před 8 lety

      Krisi Bieber​ .......Yeah, I do too.

    • @lizardas
      @lizardas Před rokem

      @@fireruby544 But he could not have read it in that way without connecting very deeply with the emotions it contained.

  • @alessandrabertoldi8210
    @alessandrabertoldi8210 Před 8 lety +177

    ...aaand that's how you brighten up a winter Monday!

    • @annawilliams8943
      @annawilliams8943 Před 8 lety +3

      So true this just made my day

    • @sindresdatter
      @sindresdatter Před 6 lety

      Alessandra Bertoldi Hey winter is the best! Well..........you know When you wake up, it's warm in the bed you look outside the window, you see snow, and boats in the fjord. you see the snowy mountans across the fjord. And you go make a cup of coco sit by the window and listen to this. Now that has to be one of the most fantastical things in life.........ok that guy is magical tho.

    • @kittandragon1048
      @kittandragon1048 Před 6 lety +1

      Alessandra Bertoldi
      That's how you brighten up ANY day.

    • @jccurran9327
      @jccurran9327 Před 4 lety +1

      Hi everyone! Not only does he have an exquisite voice with great tonality, he is an exquisite public speaker with great delivery. He matches his body movements and expressions with the reading material. In otherwords, one very consumate Professional ! Hail Tom !

  • @karipopovic6047
    @karipopovic6047 Před rokem +36

    Gerald Durrell was an absolute riot with a pen. He is greatly missed.

  • @juliesteimle3867
    @juliesteimle3867 Před 6 lety +366

    Absolutely amazing letter. Nobody writes letters like this anymore. And Tom's reading just made it more real.

    • @gimenaandreafink782
      @gimenaandreafink782 Před 3 lety

      Love the letter!!!!

    • @StarboyXL9
      @StarboyXL9 Před rokem

      We do actually. We get rejected anyway and called "creepy" because we aren't rich, handsome, and fit! Ah such a joy to be a man in a matriarchy!

    • @BoarhideGaming
      @BoarhideGaming Před rokem +23

      @@StarboyXL9 Maybe, just maybe, women reject you because you blame the rejection on perceived lack of wealth, looks and fitness instead of your actual shortcomings and flaws, likely flaws of character, seeing as you unironically describe the world around you as "matriarchy" ...which is laughable.

    • @janebrown7231
      @janebrown7231 Před rokem +1

      @@BoarhideGaming Guys who start with this warped mindset are known as incels. In their subculture, they can become quite dangerous when they become deeply obsessional.

    • @BoarhideGaming
      @BoarhideGaming Před rokem +1

      @@janebrown7231 Yeah, I know about incels and MGTOWs and the whole shebang. Scary mindset. There's a good reason militaries and police forces around the world have started teaching their cadets about these groups as potentially dangerous groups.

  • @twintower8274
    @twintower8274 Před 8 lety +83

    you r never jealous of something u dont care about......so true

  • @KaikiTsuki49
    @KaikiTsuki49 Před 8 lety +280

    He truly has a gift. It's amazing to me how he can so wonderfully and truthfully capture and express so many forms of art. Just incredible.

  • @cmhofert
    @cmhofert Před 8 lety +342

    Oh my god... It hurts to know that you can never have that... -cries- where's all the gentlemen....

    • @doublee3886
      @doublee3886 Před 7 lety +52

      We are here. Just find a man who admires Hiddleston as an actor and a gentleman; he may not be Hiddleston, but he might be decent and loving and romantic. And in this world where life and happiness are so short, grab for what and for whom you can get. Love and Romance are the only things that make life worth living.

    • @donnahagen5742
      @donnahagen5742 Před 7 lety

      Double D -- Too old now.

    • @TheEpicPlace
      @TheEpicPlace Před 7 lety +20

      Double E You write like a beautiful confident soul sir. It's rare. I wish you well.

    • @TheEpicPlace
      @TheEpicPlace Před 7 lety +21

      Double E I relate more with you then all these fangirls. Though I'm a girl. It's Tom's reflection of an ideology or truth and unashamed vulnerability. Something a picture of relationship that we wish to see more of in this life.

    • @sindresdatter
      @sindresdatter Před 6 lety

      Jessica Georgen They got killer by Americans(´∀`*)

  • @EmmalovesDarcy
    @EmmalovesDarcy Před 8 lety +285

    Stumbled across this by accident and now CANNOT stop watching/listening to it. My heart soars every time I hear it! Is it just me who pretends for those twelve minutes that Tom's written that letter himself and he's reading it just for me? *swoons* If only!! xx

    • @ilanataub9169
      @ilanataub9169 Před 5 lety +10

      He is so nice he is my neighbour and i do swoon when talking to him.

    • @aliciaborth3016
      @aliciaborth3016 Před 5 lety +4

      @@ilanataub9169 It would be awesome to be his neighbor, except for the paparazzi hanging out there.

    • @sreelakshmiav5544
      @sreelakshmiav5544 Před 4 lety +3

      @@ilanataub9169 you are lucky 😀😇

    • @carolemccosker8840
      @carolemccosker8840 Před 4 lety +5

      Dam girl I thought he had written it just for me !

    • @janebrown7231
      @janebrown7231 Před rokem +2

      If Tom had actually written that narcissist's handbook, we should be running away as fast as possible. Since he didn't, I'll join the queue for him!

  • @jasmineyoung2071
    @jasmineyoung2071 Před 8 lety +227

    His voice is so mesmerising and charming, it's music to my ears. I could listen to that voice all day and not even get bored. It really captivated me

    • @plakette26
      @plakette26 Před rokem

      That's exactly was I felt. Gosh He ist incredible and touches my heart.

  • @Logan27T
    @Logan27T Před 8 lety +308

    This is the ONLY actor that does things like this. No one else comes even close.
    Please tell me this man has some God damn flaws. Otherwise, the fact that I will never marry or even meet him will kill me. People shouldn't be allowed to be this fucking fantastic.

    • @zoeh5016
      @zoeh5016 Před 6 lety +46

      Flaws:
      He...
      He um...
      Shit
      Nope.
      I got nothing.
      I'm pretty sure he's perfect.

    • @solus8685
      @solus8685 Před 6 lety +3

      Nhu Tran This is the opposite of a flaw

    • @jenwho1212
      @jenwho1212 Před 2 lety +22

      Ah at a guess, maybe some cynicism, or geekiness, or the anger and impatience that quick witted people sometimes have. Having to be careful of his look for his work, which can be seen as vanity. Professional and loving his work, which can mean not available day to day, with variations in moods because of the different characters played, can be felt as self centered. Being so gifted and talented that everyone follows them and they have to be very strong willed to not fall into temptation. Being difficult to live with because we could feel that we can never be good enough and people put the people next to him in the shadows, he has to be mindful enough to put himself in the shadows, very hard to do and not instinctive, and he loves the spotlight or he wouldn't work as he does... The people loving him would have to be very sure of themselves, being that talented can attract vultures, which can seriously affect the mental health.
      Feeling better about it?

    • @samihaafrinmaisha5868
      @samihaafrinmaisha5868 Před 2 lety +2

      i mean its not even overrated that just amazing cause people admire truly flawless people,flaws indeed are sometimes attractive but this man hes just something i cant get over with

    • @samihaafrinmaisha5868
      @samihaafrinmaisha5868 Před 2 lety +3

      @@jenwho1212 this is true and i also understand one thing that people with flaws wont be appreciated much because he is so flawless but one thing is ive seen so many actors and ive seen chaotic and ones with flaws but this human is just genuinely this nice and sane,i dont really think he tries to be that hes absolutely real or else he would break out,im sure he has hardships as well, but im also sure hes a genuine peace and i mean peace so yeah that makes him so different and you know the real world has so much cruelty and chaos going on so people just fall into his peaceful character,im sure he feels bad that he cannot be there for the lot,but he tries. and he loves acting as his proffesion,he isnt for spotlight because he absolutely never complained when his life wasnt this higlighted as it is now. well thats kinda all, we humans want peace after all,its normal for people to be flawed and to be flawless,not everything is bad not everything is good so yeah,maybe his character has a ratio of more sanity in it

  • @blondechannel
    @blondechannel Před 4 měsíci +3

    Tom Hiddleston worthy of reciting. He is perfection.

  • @KeziahC384
    @KeziahC384 Před 6 lety +126

    I listened to this while I did my work...I don't know why but I was not distracted at all. His voice was so soothing that it was like music. The only time I got distracted was when I looked up and just stared at him 'cause he's pretty to look at 😂

  • @mdonefrit
    @mdonefrit Před 8 lety +85

    Man I wish I could meet him someday

  • @rosse7270
    @rosse7270 Před 7 lety +47

    Tom: Because I love you..
    Me: 🎶🎵love me, love me, say that you love me 🎵🎵🎵🎶🎼

  • @unseelie63
    @unseelie63 Před 7 lety +183

    That was truly beautiful.I've read Gerald Durrell's work and enjoyed it tremendously,but this love letter is,in my opinion,the best thing he ever wrote,and Tom really brought it to life.

    • @yaa63
      @yaa63 Před rokem +8

      I've read all of Gerald Durrell's work, and have all of his books too...and HAD NO IDEA about this letter...I even thought it was a made up letter it was so perfect, until I came across your comment and went BACK to the intro of the video...baffled and delighted...I even closed my eyes while listening to visualize such richness in vocabulary. So THANK YOU for pointing it out...I shall cherish this video and look for the letter online, printed and put it inside one of his books. Thank you again.

    • @carolynclitheroe3588
      @carolynclitheroe3588 Před rokem +9

      Thank goodness someone knows who wrote this.

    • @LongLiveHumour
      @LongLiveHumour Před 9 měsíci +4

      Spent a significant part of my adolescence tracking down his books in Edinburgh's second-hand bookshops. Now they still sit on a bookshelf in pride of place, cheerfully disintegrating.
      (The old Penguin editions are not the most durable of objects.)
      For anyone reading: SEEK OUT HIS BOOKS. God they're good - I laughed so hard it hurt at points, and the joy in them is irreplaceable.

  • @janineberry5904
    @janineberry5904 Před 8 lety +64

    Watching the ladies in the background. Goofy grins all around while Tom is reading. Very similar to my own huge goofy grin.. 😆

  • @Lafever1883
    @Lafever1883 Před 8 lety +133

    He is so enchanting he sounds like melted chocalate

  • @SeasonsChange14
    @SeasonsChange14 Před rokem +2

    Yes, Tom Hiddleston's voice is honeyed and dreamy. I am not, however, persuaded even by his magnificent reading of the letter that the author is anything other than a very literate yet dangerous person. Explaining away a "black monster" of jealousy by reminding the person regarding whom one is jealous that you wouldn't be jealous if you didn't love her is nothing short of frightening. It is what domestic abusers always say when they hurt or kill their (former) wives or (former) girlfriends. To the recipient of this letter: Run, my dear, and don't even THINK about marrying this man!

  • @TalanticCentral
    @TalanticCentral Před 8 lety +40

    The next Prime minister

  • @stuartreynolds4480
    @stuartreynolds4480 Před rokem +5

    Some eye-opening comments revealing the author and the setting, thank you!
    I watched first, the read some comments- and went from happy to sad, both by way of tears.
    It reads as the sweetest thing a person could say to another, if like me you don't know, or as i found after the comments, a proposal full of hinted trial and tribulation.
    Ain't Love grand!

  • @alyshal
    @alyshal Před 7 měsíci +6

    He needs to do an audio book. It will be a best seller

  • @dennisdilmore7115
    @dennisdilmore7115 Před 4 měsíci +4

    This man is truly a gift.

  • @tanishaprabhu3453
    @tanishaprabhu3453 Před 2 lety +34

    The last part of the letter was brilliant. Also, Tom Hiddleston's voice is a generous gift to the world. I could hear him speak all day long. I sat with my eyes closed, just listening to him and that warmed my heart in a strange kind of way. I love him and his accent and everything he does.

  • @Hallofang
    @Hallofang Před 7 lety +59

    Fueling my fanfictions

  • @TheRealRohnaH
    @TheRealRohnaH Před 8 lety +138

    Mesmerizing. What a gift he has.

  • @shadmtmtn1603
    @shadmtmtn1603 Před rokem +2

    Glorious in strengh and weakness, this means love ! As a man, i fully agree with the comment saying "don't settle for less than this", stand up for yourselves, ladies !

  • @Gunbudder
    @Gunbudder Před 9 měsíci +2

    Gerald and Lee have a pretty awesome story. Gerald was a writer and gave a lecture at Duke where Lee was a student, which is how they met. They stayed married until he died, and Lee is still alive (73). He was about 30 years older than her when they married

  • @katenestor1984
    @katenestor1984 Před 7 lety +68

    I'm so in love with him. All of him. 😍😍

  • @Lisa4662r
    @Lisa4662r Před 8 lety +30

    Can I just have him?? 😭😭💕

  • @Sugarmiffin23
    @Sugarmiffin23 Před rokem +23

    Love Tom ❤️ Feel for Jacquie (1st wife) having to hear the spiel he wrote to this woman (whilst they were still married), especially when she'd given up so much of her life to "live in his shadow"

    • @depaula1710
      @depaula1710 Před rokem +5

      Ugh yeah that would be awful! Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have ever read or heard it though, right? I hope not.

    • @shawnasabino7958
      @shawnasabino7958 Před rokem +1

      What a scum and ruins this poem for me.

    • @wphillips23
      @wphillips23 Před měsícem

      She gracefully cited his alcoholism in the divorce.

  • @georgerowe9166
    @georgerowe9166 Před rokem +12

    Man, that Gerald Durrell could write and of course Tom Hiddleston's reading of the letter is freaking awesome!

    • @OmnivorousReader
      @OmnivorousReader Před rokem

      Finally - ONE person in the comments who actually knows who Gerald Durrell was. A small spark in the roiling sea of wokeism pop science.

  • @rachelnelson4796
    @rachelnelson4796 Před 6 lety +19

    I want nothing more in life to find someone whom I love as much as the writer adores his beloved, and to be loved in return just the same

  • @lushpaw1
    @lushpaw1 Před 6 lety +68

    i wish people still thought this way.. the wonderfully eloquent play on words. life would be much more musical

    • @iamblackthorne
      @iamblackthorne Před rokem +2

      Some do. But no one wishes to hear the words. Too much impatience, too much utilitarian thought, or an inability to comprehend.

  • @Augustine0817
    @Augustine0817 Před 2 dny

    Letter is absolutely one of the world’s greatest inventions to which I can reach out, quite inconvenient as it might sound. During the wartime, an envelope of letter can pass for an abiding and loyal loving vow.

  • @maryjane3328
    @maryjane3328 Před 6 lety +46

    Watching this in 2018. Ugh, my heart Tom. Please don't stop.

    • @lisaellis9749
      @lisaellis9749 Před 5 lety +1

      Ma Jane watching this in 2019, lovely poem,, lovely man.

  • @luvhertzinc
    @luvhertzinc Před rokem +10

    Writing letters is a lost art....I would be over the moon to get a letter like this....

  • @izzy3840
    @izzy3840 Před 2 lety +2

    i just seem to always come back to this video…

  • @rethacordovano9879
    @rethacordovano9879 Před 4 lety +7

    How is this man still single? He's so eloquent.

  • @julietkegoume-onyido5730
    @julietkegoume-onyido5730 Před 7 lety +54

    Tom Hiddleton! He's still my #1 pick to read poetry, letters,...even the darn, boring phone book. A truly soothing, hypnotic, sensual voice. Perfect cadence, right pauses, beautiful inflection. As a poetess, it would be a dream to have him read & record any of my pieces...My poetic self is loko for Loki! Sending this dream out there, into a welcoming/listening universe! :-)

    • @mfe23
      @mfe23 Před 6 lety +1

      Nicely Said... :)

  • @mingxiliu930202
    @mingxiliu930202 Před 7 lety +27

    I am imagining he is reading this to me :3

  • @ashalvarezz214
    @ashalvarezz214 Před 7 lety +53

    Wow... I really recommend watching this with rainy moods in the background or any jazz music because it makes the experience even better.

  • @luminair11
    @luminair11 Před 11 měsíci +4

    The jealousy is a total turn off for me! Jealousy does not equate to love......it's deep seated insecurity that can be toxic in relationships!

  • @patricia4838
    @patricia4838 Před 3 lety +25

    Tom reads it beautifully. The letter is written smoothly and poetically. Everything about this is delightful.

  • @Afke81
    @Afke81 Před 4 měsíci +1

    I subscribed to the 'Calm' app and I often fall asleep with him reading Winnie The Pooh to me. I never get to the end of the story because I'm asleep within 10 minutes. He has such a soothing voice....

  • @christopherlundgren3499
    @christopherlundgren3499 Před 9 měsíci +4

    I cried with joy and awe, sorrow and regret, but mainly with Love, both at the beauty and majesty of the words themselves, but also at the sheer compassion, insight, and talent of the performance of their reading. Thank you

  • @neemya
    @neemya Před 4 lety +8

    this is so satisfying than asmr

  • @only1lily
    @only1lily Před 8 lety +20

    Back again. I can't get enough of his sweet, sexy voice and this wonderful letter.

  • @sherlockedism
    @sherlockedism Před 8 lety +26

    Smiled so hard my face hurts

  • @mothwaltz4163
    @mothwaltz4163 Před 6 lety +10

    I came here because, Wow, Tom Hiddleston reads a letter live! and then I saw it: Gerald Freakin' Durrell, one of my favorite authors, wrote the letter. Neat!

  • @JoRiver11
    @JoRiver11 Před rokem +4

    The writer sounds like he is in love with himself and with the act of writing, not with the person to whom the letter was written.
    Pretty words, beautiful reader, alarming red flags in the meaning.

  • @SnowyMary
    @SnowyMary Před 10 měsíci +3

    It's nice to have someone care about you that much, and be that self-aware, but I can only hope she knew enough of him before to be able to calculate how big of a problem the "treat you as my wife" and the "I can't do anything about this raging jealousy" might become. People do have pasts, they don't disappear. There's potential there, but I really hope they talked this though, esp since the letter hints (like some comments) at a huge power imbalance.
    Tom can read to me anytime, btw :)

  • @jlhmyers75
    @jlhmyers75 Před rokem +7

    This letter could melt an iceberg.❤

  • @Galemor1
    @Galemor1 Před 6 lety +15

    I hope he will be the voice of countless hours of tape with stories on them..
    Imagine fifthy shades read by him...

  • @deanschevyimpala
    @deanschevyimpala Před 2 lety +5

    He and Ben Cumberbatch could read the telephonebook and i would love it! ☺Just to listen to their voice...

  • @rosalyns6495
    @rosalyns6495 Před 8 lety +21

    SPEECHLESS. I AM SPEECHLESS.

  • @KxNOxUTA
    @KxNOxUTA Před rokem +5

    To feel so torn!
    Tom Hiddleston is precious. And I love that he reads. And I love how he cares about love (and feminism).
    Now this letter though, is giving me a hard time. Though I suppose it's probably very fitting for it's time?
    I love all the beautiful descriptions of bautiful things, but they're a little too long winded from today's perspective and for that specific letter. Other things we learn about the person who writes:
    - It's OK to have dark sides and even OK-ish to be at loss how to handle it, but today's perspective is, that you should have professional help rather than dumpig it on your partner in a "deal with it way". Even if we have "deal breaker" qualities or circumstances at hand, how rude (today) to demand acceptance rather than asking if the other person can live with these sides? Being accountable and showing how we intend to manage our own beast and what types of support we'd like to have (but have no right to demand).
    - It's OK to be sensual and overflow with emotion, adoration and even lust. What I think though of a letter that is supposed to be a love letter to me, but spends the most time on them, how they feel, what they want .... . From today's perspective, I would hope the same love letter would speak about the sender and their viewpoint, but also ask more questions, ask for the recepients hopes and wants, their wellbeing. Panting a picture alone and of another person and our relationship, rather than striving to explore both together, is by far more telling, by far more loving.
    - I am plainly, and very personally, discomforted by the imbalance of words on outer beauty versus inner qualities when it comes to her. While we get lots of inner "horrors" about him and then looooots of wordly beauty from him. He says he is not good for her, and he is certainly right. A powerful man, jealous to the point of disregulation, demanding external obedience in exchange for compensations "off the clock" and in way that will not give her any power outside of what he's willing to give or not give behind closed doors. Bragging about his observations and speakig of gladly givig away, what can never be taken from him and would make little difference if never experienced - unless it's with her. A man who is very right about this being bad for her, yet speaking very little about what he will do make up for it (as the purposals are fairly empty). A man like this, in a world where women frequently die and suffer of the men closest to them, while being expected to be accomodating and understanding for "boys will be boys" and men in love losing not just reason, but control.
    It's a bittersweet video experience. A good revisit of what works and what not, what I've learnt, what I hop to see and not see in future loveletters. And it helps that it is read by a man I care for. As that calms the ringing alarm bells in my body enough to give thought to why I know love, and know how it can be consuming and captivating and intense and beautiful as all the pittoresque nature descriptions, and yet ...... this letter is not about love. It's on the many things conflated with it. It's a story of how far we've come in telling love and human relationships (amongst each other and within) apart. So we could bring them together again, in better ways, and with safe forms of embracing all shadows.

  • @eraestrera5180
    @eraestrera5180 Před 7 lety +26

    My heart is beating so fast that I can hear it 😍 That's the effect of his voice 😍

  • @katg5746
    @katg5746 Před 8 lety +30

    listening to him read the audio book "The Red Necklace" makes me swoon. I hear the main characters voice when he reads.

    • @ashleewoods9205
      @ashleewoods9205 Před 7 lety +2

      Kathleen D. I listened to it when I did a book report on that story. Every time I didn't listen to it, I could picture his voice.

  • @aishwaryasrivastava6181
    @aishwaryasrivastava6181 Před 5 lety +31

    Tom's voice is as smooth as glycerine covered in sandalwood oil.
    This is such a masterpiece. This is the most honest proclaimation of love I've ever seen.
    Also, this is obnoxious of me to point out but the middle part of the letter where he talks about his faults and shortcomings sounded scaringly like something Loki would say to his lover. ('You might have to live in my shadow a lot', 'Monstrous jealousy') XD

  • @shaistafenwick2841
    @shaistafenwick2841 Před rokem +2

    Durrell was one of the first authors I adored. Thanks so much for this, Mr. Hiddleston.

  • @helenamcginty4920
    @helenamcginty4920 Před 9 měsíci +1

    Goodness. Im so glad no one ever wrote me a letter like that. Im such an un romantic that that would end the relationship. I once got a card on valentines day and never even opened it. I found it years later and it was from a sweet young man (we were 16/17 with whom I was friends....or so I thought. Poor chap must have been hurt.

  • @hehehe1991able
    @hehehe1991able Před 7 lety +16

    what a nice word said in strong spirit, like Tom channeled the writer's soul. I cried at the end.

  • @markroberts171
    @markroberts171 Před rokem +5

    I read all of his books and I adored him, what a good writer

  • @saraeli8626
    @saraeli8626 Před 7 lety +20

    i can't believe this was written in the 70s?

  • @TheOrnella09
    @TheOrnella09 Před 6 lety +13

    Sweet, beautiful voice. Gorgeous man.

  • @MsTazzisme
    @MsTazzisme Před 8 lety +4

    omg... what's that fluttering in my tummy? ?? BUTTERFLYS

  • @samirataubmann
    @samirataubmann Před 2 lety +10

    What a beautiful and well composed letter! Thank you for presenting this to the world.

  • @heatherglenfield9537
    @heatherglenfield9537 Před rokem +2

    That is quite possibly the most romantic thing I have ever heard. Beautiful.

  • @d.h.3602
    @d.h.3602 Před 4 lety +12

    Tom has such a touching voice🎙❤ ...and if you "see him acting", during reading Letters for the audience around of him, is the best at all. I love this sooo much. I hope I'm able to see him live on stage someday. I can listen to him for hours 🎙🎶❤😘😏 #TomHiddleston

  • @1evonvielen
    @1evonvielen Před 6 lety +8

    well... now I'm crying. he's such a beautiful human being.
    (and he made this jealousy-part sound Loki af XD)

  • @sophiacarballo
    @sophiacarballo Před 6 lety +22

    Love listening to him.... his voice is so amazing, I could listen to it for hours

  • @linadjokic270
    @linadjokic270 Před 2 měsíci

    I love Durrell! Now, when Tom H. is reading him ..... there's a different light shining through the words and images they create... thank you, master Tom! ❤

  • @holly7869
    @holly7869 Před 6 lety +10

    Swooning. Definitely, swooning.

  • @AmyNikitaMusicMusicalsMovies

    Oh. My. Word. He is just...so perfect

  • @peppa_pig_
    @peppa_pig_ Před 3 lety +5

    He is a true artist. A true actor and orator.

  • @loricrane5315
    @loricrane5315 Před 4 měsíci +1

    what everyone wishes to hear from the one that matters.❤

  • @mfe23
    @mfe23 Před 6 lety +17

    *Well Done Tom... :)*

  • @Jeje-nd9mk
    @Jeje-nd9mk Před 7 lety +11

    Well... HE is a true and great actor.

  • @bonchance9241
    @bonchance9241 Před 6 lety +7

    the language
    of love
    crisp beautiful
    enunciation
    from a man
    in the full flowering
    of his youth
    just.......... beautiful.

  • @jessyrock2549
    @jessyrock2549 Před 2 lety +1

    The most perfect man in the world 😍. I would live in the shadows with you and for you💜

  • @dreamingMonz
    @dreamingMonz Před 6 lety +8

    Such a beautiful letter, read by such a brilliant and kind man, with such a warm and inviting voice. I am absolutely astonished.

  • @deathwitheponine
    @deathwitheponine Před 8 lety +21

    Inspirational, funny. Such vivid language. This letter makes me wonder what happened to us. Nobody writes to each other like this anymore.

  • @kellymacpherson1868
    @kellymacpherson1868 Před rokem +8

    Listening to this is still the best way to calm my anxiety 6 years on 😀

  • @gummygoo2
    @gummygoo2 Před 3 lety +1

    Theres no end to falling in love with Tom.
    Theres always something that makes you decend deeper and faster.
    As he reads poetry, audiobooks, acts in films and plays, talks on interviews. He's a true gentleman and sweetheart.
    He toys with your heart strings as he cradles your mind with his voice.
    His grand voice.
    He makes your eyes widen with fascination at his stature and passion.
    He is just magnificent.
    Theres nothing he can't do.

  • @Auric-BraiNerd
    @Auric-BraiNerd Před 11 měsíci +2

    This letter was going so so well.... A little overeager but still could be cute and then it took such a turn for the worse at the "you'll be in my shadow and exist exclusively as my wife" and "I am a jealous monster who will hurt people" 😬

  • @brianking9631
    @brianking9631 Před rokem +3

    So easy to listen to...easy to see why he is an excellent actor!

  • @brendafuller6186
    @brendafuller6186 Před 4 lety +5

    This is about my third time listening to this. Each time I do, it's like I've heard it for the first time. The letter, & Tom, what a wonderful combination.💖