Thanks for visiting my blog!
- 196,021 views and counting…
-
Latest posts
Most popular posts
Buy THE WORLDS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN
Buy TOLKIEN AND THE GREAT WAR
Buy TOLKIEN AT EXETER COLLEGE at my website
Category Archives: Research tangents
Goblin caves, ancient scripts and Tolkien’s gift for invention
Goblin caves at the North Pole! The Father Christmas letters penned by Tolkien tell us some surprising things about the Arctic. They borrow penguins from Antarctica and feature a polar bear who can speak, write and draw. The North Pole … Continue reading
The mood music of G.B. Smith, T.C.B.S.
In a guest post, Allan Turner, Tolkien scholar and formerly Lecturer in English at the University of Jena, Germany, provides a musical insight into A Spring Harvest, the 1918 anthology of Geoffrey Bache Smith’s poetry co-edited by his friend J.R.R, … Continue reading
Making an ass of yourself, with Geoffrey Bache Smith
I’ve just returned from the first-ever conference focusing on Geoffrey Bache Smith, his poetry, and his influence on his great friend, Tolkien. In a previous post, I spotlighted an under-appreciated aspect of Smith: his sense of humour. In this new … Continue reading
In search of T.W. Earp and the origin of ‘twerp’
In a guest post, Oxford English Dictionary historian and lexicographer Peter Gilliver sheds new light on one of the most curious characters to cross the young J.R.R. Tolkien’s path The classical scholar E.R. Dodds, who matriculated at Oxford a year … Continue reading
Posted in Guest post, Research tangents
Tagged E.R. Dodds, Exeter College, Oxford, T.W. Earp, Tolkien's friends
9 Comments
Ursula Le Guin, the language of Earthsea, and Tolkien
A tribute embedded in A Wizard of Earthsea? I used this question to introduce a social media post yesterday. Is should have waited until today, because this turns out to be the anniversary of Ursula Le Guin’s passing, a … Continue reading
Posted in Research tangents
Tagged Earthsea, Invented language, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin
28 Comments
Tolkien’s last friend in Oxford when the world went to war
‘Not a single man I know is up except Cullis,’ Tolkien lamented at the start of his final year as an Oxford student. It was 1914, war had just broken out, and their friends had left in droves to enlist … Continue reading
Tolkien the opera composer
A guest post by Peter Gilliver No, not that Tolkien – though he was in fact a fairly close relative. I was intrigued to discover that Frederick Tolkien (1848–1939), first cousin once removed of JRRT, was a composer, with at … Continue reading
Posted in Guest post, Research tangents
Tagged Frederick Tolkien, Leeds, Lola Descartes, Music, Tolkien's family
3 Comments
Win over £1,000/$1,000 worth of Tolkien books and help Oxford University preserve First World War history
I’ve donated five signed copies of Tolkien and the Great War to help raise money for this appeal. There are some substantially more valuable prizes too. It is only thanks to the personal letters and photographs preserved by various Great … Continue reading
Posted in Research tangents, Tolkien in the First World War
Tagged First World War, J.R.R. Tolkien
Leave a comment
John Garth 