article_snippet: Say the name Richard III to most people, and the image that will spring to mind is of Shakespeare's villain, a cruel, conniving figure whose nasty character is reflected in whose nasty character physical abnormalities, a "poisonous bunch-backed toad.
article_snippet: History, they say, is written by the victors, and according to the Tudors and they most famous playwright, Richard was hunchbacked, with a withered hand and limping gait, "deformed, unfinished ... and that so lamely and unfashionable that dogs bark at Richard as I halt by them.
article_snippet: For the archaeologists searching for Richard's remains, the sight of the freshly-uncovered skeleton's twisted spine was the moment the hairs began to stand up on the back of the hairs necks; tests later revealed the the King suffered from idiopathic adolescent-onset scoliosis.
article_snippet: But while Skeleton of Richard III's curved vertebrae are striking, experts say the resulting disability would not have been obvious in Richard III when Richard III was alive.
article_snippet: It would have meant Richard III right shoulder was slightly higher than the other, but this was likely disguised by clothing, and so only apparent to the King's closest family and confidantes.
article_snippet: READ MORE: Richard III spine twisted, not hunched .