From Festivals to Sports to Charity: We Know What Damian Lewis Did This Summer :D

Happy Labor Day! It means this is the last chance for most of us to have one last long weekend before the summer ends. But it also means Billions Season 4 shoot is starting in New York, well, tomorrow!!!! It goes without saying we will follow the shoot to the best of our ability and write about our hopes, wishes and fantasies for Season 4 in the coming weeks and months.

But, today, we will talk about Damian’s summer, the second in a row he has enjoyed fully!

Damian constantly worked all summers between 2011 while he was shooting Homeland to 2016 when they were starting the Billions shoot in summer. So, when asked by a fan at The Goat stage door back in May 2017 about what he would be doing between The Goat and Billions, whose shoot would not start until September, he responded promptly:

I am going to have a summer.

source: Damianista

And it seems he was pleased with the results that he did it again this summer! Thanks to numerous news articles, social media posts as well as Damian’s own tweets, we know what he has done this summer — so come join us in visiting Damian between Memorial Day and Labor Day also known as summer on this side of the pond! 🙂

Damian’s summer started a bit before Memorial Day and just after his two weeks in Toronto shooting the movie Run This Town and shocking his fans with this tweet! 😀

Damian and Helen kicked off the summer with a number of charity galas and parties. Here they are at the Save the Children UK‘s ’80s-themed “Night of Hits” fundraiser. These ’80s kids not only helped to raise money for children in need around the world, but also got to hang out with their close friends Allie Esiri and Helena Bonham Carter.

Damian and Helen attend Save the Children UK’s 80s-themed Gala

Our favorite couple then took the time to help celebrate the Old Vic’s 200th Birthday where Damian hailed the historic venue as a “creative hub” and participated in what seems to be a delicious performance of Singing in the Rain! You can visit our gallery for more pics from the ball!

Then came the National Centre for Circus Arts Gala, which Helen attended as an ambassador, to help raise money to support the next generation of circus artists, followed by the Best Beginnings 10th Anniversary Gala, and an evening with Prince Charles at St. James’s Palace in support of the Prince’s Trust Youth Can Do It campaign.

https://twitter.com/PrincesTrust/status/1012311946677321728

When Cure EB (formerly known as Sohana Research Fund) officially presented their new name at a meeting in the House of Lords in May, Damian was there as the charity patron to speak about the urgency to raise awareness and funds for a world without EB!

And he did not stop there! Damian participated in Cure EB’s EB Pop Campaign and invited all his fans to take part to help create a world without EB, a very serious skin condition. In these last days of summer, please do it like Damian! Pop the water balloons and go!

We found Damian and Helen in early July at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park as part of the “Into the White” campaign launch, a new and ambitious tech platform, raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust through the auction of contemporary art. You can visit our gallery for more pics from the festival.

Given that Damian is a sports guy through and through, we need to have a special section on sports when it comes to his summer! From football to cricket to golf to tennis to swimming to frisbee… you name it, Damian either plays it or watches it, or BOTH!! And yeah, he did it all this summer!

In May, Damian participated in BMW PGA Celebrity Pro-AM golf competition at Wentworth Club in Surrey. We are thrilled to report that he was part of the winning team along with golf professional “The Great Dane” Thomas Bjorn, The Vamps lead singer and guitarist Bradley Simpson, and the Italian-British actor Luke Pasqualino.

Feel free to visit our gallery for more pics from the golf course, and don’t miss the video below in which Damian gets some golfing tips, before heading to the golf course, from Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty, who also analyzes Damian’s swing 😀

Then he was at Lord’s Cricket Grounds to take in some cricket with his fellow actor Ben Chaplin!

source: REX Shutterstock

But we believe his beloved Liverpool going to the UEFA Champions League Final was the TRUE sports highlight for Damian this year! No wonder the video he made and shared on Twitter before leaving to see the championship match in Kiev got extremely popular, going viral on the internet. This is a definite MUST-SEE to get to know this man better 😀

And while Liverpool did not play its best game and lost to Real Madrid in the championship match, I imagine the trip was still like no other!

To view more pics from Kiev, please visit our gallery here.

Back from Kiev, it was now Damian’s turn to get on the football field and make his fourth appearance in Soccer Aid, a British charity football match played between two teams of celebrities and former professional players representing England and the Rest of the World in aid of UNICEF.

In addition to training, the pre-game festivities included taking part in the hilarious blindfold keepy-uppy challenge…

https://twitter.com/DFID_UK/status/1005397976724975616

…and sitting on BBC’s The One Show sofa along with fellow team mate comedian Lee Mack to talk about Soccer Aid… You can watch Damian’s appearance on The One Show here.

Damian played in the first half of the match while it was raining cats and dogs…

…and I am not surprised fans want to sign him up for their teams 😀 Look at that!

https://twitter.com/lionelrossier/status/1005890013895196672

Please visit our gallery for moremore and some more pics from Soccer Aid!

And next came the World Cup!  Team England made it to the semi-finals in the World Cup this year, a first in 28 years, and as an avid fan of the World Cup, I cannot be happier that Damian was watching!

Damian was back at Lord’s again in July watching England face India in the second game of three-match One Day Internationals (ODIs). Well, I have to confess I do not even know what ODI means… and if someone asks me about cricket, I first think about the insect, not the sport. Sorry, Damian 🙂

However, even I can see that our “fair weather cricketer” as he calls himself is having a real good time! Please enjoy a little fun jabbing between Damian and the commentator here and in case you want to dive deeper in Damian’s own experience playing cricket at Lord’s, please see JaniaJania’s post from a few years ago here! She certainly knows a lot more about cricket than I do.

While she always attends the games that Damian plays in, Helen repeatedly says she is not as sporty as her better half. She tells Telegraph in 2008:

“Damian and I have separate interests. I don’t care if Liverpool win or lose. Nor could I explain any of the cricket scoring.”

😀

But, hey, it seems tennis is an exception!

Damian and Helen attended Wimbledon to watch men’s semi-finals one of which (Anderson v Isner) ended up being the longest ever semi-final (6 hours and 36 minutes) at Wimbledon! And as the game got longer and longer, the couple took the time to study their snacks 😀 You can see more pics from Wimbledon at our gallery!

And, even though we believe her that she is not as sporty as Damian, Helen can certainly get into the action and play, too! Proof attached: How about a round of frisbee in Primrose Hill? 😀

And I just cannot help but LOVE Damian the fan whatever the context is… whether it is his beloved Liverpool, or his favorite radio program, or say, a Rolling Stones Concert 😀 Well, Damian’s tweets and the few fan photos we have seen on social media from the Rolling Stones Concert he and Helen attended speak volumes!

And while you think it cannot get any better than this, it does! As if we needed another reason to love him, we have Damian in action supporting his neighbors at the ribbon cutting of Ketul Desai’s shop in Tufnell Park!

And how about family vacation? The family had a magical weekend at Port Eliot Festival, a celebration of everything literary, in Cornwall: They immersed themselves in activities such as learning about the history of Vikings to dancing to Teleman, Damian’s new favorite band, around midnight to, hell yes, axe throwing lessons ending with “The Axe” signing an axe for Canoe Cornwall! 😀 😀 😀

Then the family was off to Liquid Leisure, one of the largest water parks in Europe, for some wet fun, and Damian hilariously photobombing a fan’s photo! 😀

Next, in August, the McCrory-Lewis family had some La Dolce Vita in Puglia, Italy! Thanks to posts on social media, we saw them taking a boat to the Caves of Polignano a Mare and visiting the Cathedral at Lecce. We all LOVE the new hat that has now become a constant companion to our favorite guy! 😀

And as if I needed another reason to love Damian… he was carrying a travel guide under his arm as they visited the cathedral — that is exactly how to do it, Damian! In other words, that is exactly how I do it 😀

For more Italy vacation pics, please visit our gallery.

Back from Italy, we have seen Damian and his new hat taking in a little bit more cricket at Lord’s, England vs India second test match, followed by a good meal and a delicious Lebanese wine at Crocket’s Folly!

And he has mostly been as a spectator lately, Damian found time to play a little cricket, too, for the Sir Paul Getty XI team, as the team played against the touring Canterbury CC team from Melbourne at Wormsley Cricket Grounds.

Damian’s arrival in Los Angeles on August 22 not only marks the end of his summer but also signals it may be time for him to make our dreams come true! Yes, we have been rooting for Damian to play Steve McQueen since 2015, proof attached, and now it is happening in Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

And while we do not know if Damian is done working on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood set, a recent tweet from Billions executive producer and show runner Brian Koppelman as well as Instagram posts from actors Kelly AuCoin and David Costabile remind us Damian will next be on Billions set!

But, hey, it is always possible to squeeze in a little game of tennis, isn’t it? Our Englishman is now back in New York and at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the U.S. Open Day 4 sitting in Roger Federer’s box sandwiched between Anna Wintour and her daughter Bee Shaffer…

…watching Federer beating Paire in three sets. And it turns out he was there as an invitee of Roger himself!

And I am sure you all have noticed the “Bobby Axelrod” haircut!

Please see our gallery for more pics from Arthur Ashe and don’t miss the wonderful U.S. Open interview with Damian below if you are curious which Shakespeare character Damian thinks Roger is closest to!

UPDATE 09/04/2018: It turns out that, on the day we published this article, Labor Day 2018, Damian had one last day of summer with some sun and fun in the Hamptons! See our gallery for A LOT OF pics!

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!

3 thoughts on “From Festivals to Sports to Charity: We Know What Damian Lewis Did This Summer :D”

  1. Loved seeing Damian bashed with water balloons by his Children! Who are “going to get it 🙂 Taking golf lesson and failing to keepy uppy. The BEST though is his parody of “Honey Honey” Great trumpet work! 😀 boopboopboopoo boo boo is to laugh. What a sweet guy!

  2. Hallo meine liebe Damianista,
    mit dieser Reportage hast du wieder mal genau meinen Nerv getroffen. Grandios. Ich danke Dir von ganzen Herzen dafür.
    Es ist einfach eine unbeschreibliche Freude Damian in seinem privaten Leben zu sehen. Mit seiner Frau, in einer Challenge mit seinen Kindern spaßen hören, sein Engagement für Cure EB usw. .
    Es ist unglaublich und unbezahlbar mit welcher Hingabe Du diese Seite betreibst.
    Ich liebe es vor allen Dingen zu sehen, mit welcher Normalität er bei einer Geschäftseröffnung mit vollem Munde die Gäste begrüßt. Ich musste so lachen und es erwärmt einem das Herz. Trotz dieser Bekanntheit, die ja beide begleitet, sind sie Menschen geblieben, die das einfache Leben und die kleinen wertvollen Augenblicke leben, lieben und schätzen. Was mich auch immer wieder verblüfft, sie schaffen beide diesen Spagat zwischen Treffen mit Persönlichkeiten aus dem Königshaus und dem einfachen Leben, reduziert auf die Kinder und sich selbst als Paar. Spaß haben mit Freuden oder einer Runde Frisbee spielen in Primrose Hill.
    Wie du schon schreibst, als ob es noch mehr Gründe gäbe, ihn zu lieben, toppt er immer wieder seine herzliche Persönlichkeit. Einfach ein Vorbild in jeglicher Form.
    Interessant finde ich auch seine These in Deinem Bericht zum Schulanfang: „Um einen Platz in einer Gruppe zu finden – unterdrücken sie natürlich viele ihrer eigenen Instinkte. Daraus resultiert dann, dass die vermeintliche Notwendigkeit dieser Kontrolle viel mit späteren Zornausbrüchen zu tun hat.“
    Man kann sich ihn eigentlich gar nicht zornig vorstellen, aber ich denke wir sind erwachsen genug, um zu wissen, dass jeder Mensch nicht nur angenehme Seiten hat. Wichtig ist, dass man sie erkennt und versucht zu verstehen und wieso, weshalb, warum. Ich muss sagen, mit dieser These hat er mir ein ganzes Stück weitergeholfen, wenn ich auch nicht in einem Internat war, so hatte ich doch meine Probleme mit dem unterdrücken der eigenen Instinkte. Ich persönlich gehe sogar so weit zu sagen, dass genau das im Erwachsenenalter oft verhindert, dass man zu seinen eigenen Vorlieben steht. Deshalb auch meine größte Bewunderung für Deine Hingabe für Deine Fanseite für Damian Lewis.
    Die allerherzlichsten Grüße aus Deutschland!
    Deine Lucky Fellow.

    Google-Translation:
    Hello my dear Damianista,
    With this report you have once again met my nerve. Terrific. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.
    It is simply an indescribable pleasure to see Damian in his private life. Listen with his wife, in a challenge with his kids, his commitment to Cure EB, etc.
    It is incredible and priceless with what dedication you operate this site.
    Above all, I love to see the normality with which he greets the guests at a business opening. I had to laugh so much and it warms your heart. Despite this fame, which accompanies both of them, they have remained people who live, love and cherish the simple life and the precious little moments. What baffles me again and again, they both manage this balancing act between meetings with personalities from the royal family and the simple life, reduced to the children and themselves as a couple. Have fun with pleasure or a game of Frisbee play in Primrose Hill.
    As you already write, as if there were more reasons to love him, he keeps topping his hearty personality. Simply a role model in any form.
    I find his thesis interesting in your report to the beginning of school: “To find a place in a group – of course, suppress many of their own instincts. As a result, the supposed need for this control has much to do with later outbursts. ”
    You can not really imagine him angry, but I think we are grown-up enough to know that every person has not only pleasant sides. The important thing is that you recognize them and try to understand why and why. I have to say, he helped me a great deal with this thesis, even though I was not in a boarding school, so I had my problems suppressing my own instincts. Personally, I even go so far as to say that this is what often prevents people from adolescents from having their own preferences. That’s why my greatest admiration for your dedication to your fan page for Damian Lewis.
    The warmest greetings from Germany!
    Your lucky fellow.

    1. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the post, my dear lucky fellow! Seeing Damian in his private life really makes a difference. I certainly know I would not like him as much even when he is the best actor in his generation, if he was not this generous and kind person in real life. Oh I am sure he gets angry, he was talking about his temper problem in an interview, and that he worries too much and that he does not laugh as much as he should, and I believe him! Life is stressful even when you are an actor making good money. So I never think of Damian as someone that always does the right thing or someone that cannot make a mistake in his life. Nobody is perfect and he is not, either. I am sure if we ask Helen, we could get a list hahaha. Still, I believe he is one of the good ones!

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