The Truest Kind of Character

Over the last couple months, Lloydalists has spent a majority of its time focusing on the characters that Harry has had the opportunity to portray. While the character studies, evaluations of nuanced roles (aren’t they all nuanced roles?), and our sometimes-investigative look into the backstory of Harry’s characters have all been quite fun, we also don’t want to forget that, behind the morphing masks of these sundry figures is a single man portraying them…a single man with a true character of his own.

Thus, and perhaps as a fitting tribute to our recent “Birthday Boy” who is now properly on the threshold of another promising year of his life and career, we’d like to take this opportunity to shed some light on several of the charities with which Harry has worked thus far.

 

Best Beginnings

Best Beginnings is a UK-based organization dedicated to giving every infant the healthiest start possible in life, the first two years of infancy being the most crucial.

 

Harry cycles from London to Paris for Best Beginnings (with his bike chain apparently intact). ©Best Beginnings (2011)

According to the charity’s “About Us” page, Best Beginnings addresses

the challenge of reducing child health inequalities and infant mortality in three main ways. They:

1. develop pioneering ..... and resources for families and healthcare professionals, to ensure parents have the information and support needed to make choices that will improve their children's health and avoid preventable illness and death;

2. promote equal access to health services for families with babies so that people who have difficulty accessing these services are enabled to do so;

3. advance the education of both the public and professionals who have contact with young people and families about health issues affecting mothers and children. (“About Us”)

 

 

Our pensive stag, probably pondering if he was going the right way. ©Best Beginnings (2011)

 

Harry became a part of Best Beginning when asked to accompany good friend and fellow British actor Leon Ockenden (Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2009) and Heartbeat (2008)), as well as eight others as part of Ockenden's stag party. The challenge was to bike from London to Paris in order to raise funds for Best Beginnings (“Men’s Health”).

 

According to those involved (although, you don’t have to convince us, as we can believe it), Harry was a delight to have on the trip. He kept people laughing and often did what they coined “doing a Harry” by “basically, getting lost” (Baum).  In a brief video message, Best Beginnings CEO Alison Baum thanked Harry specifically for “keeping us smiling and giggling, especially the early days where he was so head-down on the road that he kept going the wrong way!” (Baum).

 

Harry Lloyd applauds the work well-done (and pedaled) by his Best Beginnings cohorts of the Stag Party. © Best Beginnings (2011)

 

 

Victory! Or shall we say “Victoire!” The Eiffel Tower is makes an impressive finish-line. ©Best Beginnings (2011)

Despite Wrong-Way Harry shenanigans and unforeseen issues like steep hills and snapped bike chains—“and once a chain snaps, you’re a bit screwed,” as Harry recounted (in Baum)—the Stag Party Fund Raisers continued as the gang biked their way from “Best Beginnings” to end.  Harry proved a huge support in the “last leg to Paris,” apparently rallying his worn and weary cycling mates (Baum).

Click HERE for a video “thank you” message to Harry Lloyd and his sponsors from Best Beginnings CEO Alison Baum, September 2010. Video: © Best Beginnings and Vimeo (2011)

 

 

Free to Dance/Dance Britain for Burma

The other charity in which Harry has partaken is “Free to Dance” (2011), currently called “Dance Britain for Burma” (2012). It is the fundraising and awareness raising campaign of LearnBurma.

 

In an attempt to open people's eyes to the situation in the Southeast Asia state, and currently partnered with five fellow organizations, teacher Ben Hammond began the charity last year. He dances the John o’Groats to Land’s End route, sometimes alone and sometimes with others dedicated to the cause (LearnBurma).

 

With the hope of finding out if “Britain was free to dance with the hope of freedom for Burma,” Hammonds’ charitable endeavor “ended with the world’s longest-ever dance” (LearnBurma). Among the dancers involved in the initial, 2011 proactive attempt “for education, human rights, and change in Burma” (LearnBurma) was Harry, one of the burgeoning young actors willing to take the time to connect with other young people—students—and help Hammonds open their eyes to Burma’s plight.

 

Actor Harry Lloyd teaches the teacher, LearnBurma creator Ben Hammond, a dance move. Image: © Dance Britain 2011

 

Now, it’s time for the teacher to teach: Ben shows Harry what he calls “Street Moves” (“2011”). Image: © Dance Britain 2011

 

The True Mark of Character

Regardless of the roles, wardrobe, and words adapted, worn, or borrowed, at the end of the day, Harry Lloyd is a dedicated, interested-in-the-world-and-what’s-out-there individual, comfortable in t-shirts and biking or dancing his way for charitable causes.

Harry is a passionate man. He has shown, and continues to show, a passion for his life, career, and helping others. Both charities were greatly benefited by his efforts and support, and he has helped keep in motion two worthwhile organizations’ goals.

 

For more information about either charity, or to make a contribution of your own, please visit:

Best Beginnings Official Website

Dance Britain Official Website & on Facebook

 

Sweet gestures for a job well-done: Harry and a fellow Best Beginnings supporter, likely thankful to have completed their goal. © Best Beginnings (2011)

Speaking of Support…

Finally, thank you to all of you who've stuck with Lloydalists through this slow time. As some (if not all) of you are aware, though, Harry’s latest project The Fear will make its BBC television debut next month and a recent all-star performance of The Mousetrap on November 18, 2012 in London also has Harry hobnobbing with a vast array of colleagues, including other up-and-comers like Tamsin Greig, comedienne Miranda Hart, and the beloved Sir Patrick Stewart and Hugh Bonneville. He’s even reuniting with his Game of Thrones (2011) and The Iron Lady (2011) co-star Iain Glen. It also appears that Closer to the Moon (2013) will be making its debut before long (knock on wood).  All of this, just as Harry has turned 29 (see our short-but-sincere birthday post, below).  Thus, we’re confident that, now that Harry Lloyd news seems to have picked up steam, we’ll be back with another installment of Lloydalist treats as soon as possible.

 

 

Works Cited & Consulted

“2011 Part Six—Famous (and Not So Famous) People.” Dance Britain Facebook Photo Album. Facebook.com. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <https://www.facebook.com/dancebritain#!/media/set/?set=a.279675192095009.69383.279335162129012&type=3>.

“About Us: Our Vision and Approach.” Best Beginnings. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/about-best-beginnings/3f373fd9-d7f9-4c65-917a-633dc4784aec>.

Baum, Alison, and Best Beginnings. “A Message For Actor Harry and His Sponsors.” Vimeo.com. Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://vimeo.com/17218696>.

LearnBurma. “About Us: Dance Britain for Burma.” DanceBritain.com. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.dancebritain.com/about>.

 “Men’s Health Week Sparks Celebrity Stag Do With a Difference.” Best Beginnings. 18 June 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/News/mens-health-week-sparks-celebrity-stag-do-with-a-difference>.

 

~K & C, Lloydalists Co-Founders~