The Dragon Sale (2012/2017)

December 15, 2012:

 

Eminent Old Dragon Tom Hiddleston returned to the Dragon School in Oxford to open the 69th Dragon Christmas Charity Sale. The Dragon Sale raises money for charities linked to children and families, and is held annually on the last of of the Christmas Term. 

Tom was introduced and joined onstage by John Baugh, who served as Headmaster of the Dragon School for 15 years from 2012-2017. (He was not the Headmaster when Tom attended the school) 

The school posted a highlight slideshow from the event. Tom Hiddleston can be heard doing a voiceover throughout the video. He officially declares the Dragon Sale open, talks about his excitement to visit the haunted house. and thanks all the children (pupils) who have worked so hard to put the event together. 

The Dragon Sale raises money through raffles, silent auctions, the author's corner, entertainment, and game or challenge stalls run by pupils. Along with speaking at the event, Tom also did autograph signings. In 2012, the Sale raised a whopping £168,000 which was distributed between 92 charities! 

Oxford based photographer Vincent Grieve shared some additional headshots of Tom taken at the event. 

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In 2017, Tom Hiddleston once again contributed to the Dragon Sale as one of the many celebrity former pupils featured on the Dragon School Book of Verse. This audio CD is also available in the 2018 sale and can be ordered online.  The CD also features readings from Hugh Laurie, Tom Hollander, Hugh Dancy, Emma Hiddleston, and more. 

The CD includes two Shakespeare readings from Tom: Prospero's Farewell to his Magic (The Tempest) and Hamlet's Soliloquy (Hamlet). You can listen to Tom read a snippet of the Hamlet soliloquy in the teaser video posted by the Dragon Sale. This a real treat for fans since most of us missed out of seeing RADA Hamlet. 

The full track listing: 

1. Pippa Stallworthy - All Poem is by Jon Stallworthy
2. Antonia Fraser - Home Thoughts, from Abroad by Robert Browning 
3. Emma Hiddleston - Loveliest of Trees by A. E. Housman
4. Emma Hiddleston - The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
5. Rob Callender -  Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth
6. Poppy Adams - I Like to See it Lap the Miles by Emily Dickinson
7. Poppa Stallworthy - Burning the Stubble by Jon Stallworthy
8. Nicholas Shakespeare - The Old Ships of James Elroy 
9. William Fiennes - Humming-Bird by D. H. Lawrence
10. Frances Houghton - A Bird came down the Walk by Emily Dickinson
11. David Shukman - The Tiger by William Blake
12. Mark Quartley - from 'The Prelude' by William Wordsworth
13. Hugh Laurie - You are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll
14. Nicholas Stallworthy - No Ordinary Sunday by Jon Stallworthy
15. Hugh Dancy - The Send-off by Wilfred Owen
16. Peter Jay - The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron
17. Paul Chahidi - A Small Dragon by Brian Patten
18. Rageh Omaar - The Kraken by Lord Tennyson
19. Tom Hollander - Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
20. Tom Ward - Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
21. Hal Cazalet - The Sick Rose by William Blake
22. Tom Hiddleston - Prospero's Farewell to his Magic by William Shakespeare
23. Poppy Adams - Uphill by Christina G. Rossetti
24. Sebastian Croft - If by Rudyard Kipling
25. Tom Hiddleston - Hamlet's Soliloquy by William Shakespeare
26. Rory Stewart - On his Blindness by John Milton

Some behind-the-scenes images from Tom, Hugh, and Sebastian Croft doing their recordings at the Youtube Space Lab in London. 

Fashion: 

In 2012 Tom Hiddleston wore his navy, three-piece Armani suit. In 2017, Tom wore his Reiss Porto coat and Burberry Crewneck sweater. 

Credits: 

Dragon Sale
Dragon School
Vincent Grieve
Sebastian Croft
HiddlesPage