Richard Buckley (second from the left) with his husband Tom Ford in 2016

The many Richard Buckleys

Back in 2004 when I registered www.richardbuckley.co.uk , the internet was in it's relative infancy.  Around 11% of the worlds population were online.  Compare that to over 65% now.  I wasn't a reader of fashion magazines, nor was I particularly that into fashion.  Georgio at Asdaio was about all my finances could stretch to at the time.  Thus I wasn't aware that there was a far more famous Richard Buckley out there.  It hadn't actually dawned on me that there were any other Richard Buckley's out there (more on that later).  Looking back this is particularly silly, as it's probably not that uncommon a name.

Anyway, as I registered my domain name, and later my social media pages, it soon became apparent that there was at least one other Richard Buckley out there.   Some of my preferred usernames were already taken, much to my surprise.  This was the point where I should have really bought the .com version of my domain, but I figured whoever this other Richard was, he probably wasn't that tech savvy.  I figured that the internet was young, many people didn't know how to use it, and there was plenty of time to buy the domain later.

Anyway, a year or so later, I decided to buy the .com version of my domain, and to my dismay, someone else had already bought it.  Was it the famous Richard Buckley? No, it was yet another Richard Buckley.  Figuring he wasn't that serious (his website consists of a picture of him in silly glasses), I thought he'd probably sell the domain to me if I emailed and asked nicely.  No such luck.  Richard in the comedy glasses wasn't interested in selling.  At this point I kind of wished that famous Richard had beaten me to my domain name.  Being beaten by a guy in guy in silly glasses felt so wrong.

But I digress.  Over the years I've followed my more famous namesake Richards life. From his son being born in 2012, to his marriage to Tom Ford in 2014 to sadly his death this year.  I always knew when something important had happened in Richards Life, as I always received a large spike in visitors, social media likes and comments.  Presumably because people were searching for him, but found me instead (and hopefully not the guy in silly glasses), and quite liked what I do.

Anyway, it was with great sadness that the last time this happened, it was because of Richards passing.  I'd never met him, but I feel a connection to the more famous Buckley.  Maybe all Buckley's are connected.  Rest in Peace Richard.