Category Archives: Research tangents

Making an ass of yourself, with Geoffrey Bache Smith

Posted on 24 March 2023 by John Garth

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 →

Posted in John Garth’s writing, Research tangents | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

In search of T.W. Earp and the origin of ‘twerp’

Posted on 27 November 2022 by Peter Gilliver

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 →

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The dream of Geoffrey Bache Smith

Posted on 18 October 2021 by John Garth

It’s not often you stumble upon a piece of writing by a key member of Tolkien’s school circle, the T.C.B.S. Today I am pleased as Punch to be able to present such a piece by G.B. Smith, to mark his … Continue reading →

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Testing time for Tolkien, the Inklings and the T.C.B.S.

Posted on 12 June 2021 by John Garth

Even after 30-odd years it still happens. I’m in the middle of dusty nowhere trying to lug a broken television set across Spain, or I’m arguing with some bureaucrat who won’t let me get going, or I’m hopelessly lost in … Continue reading →

Posted in Research tangents, Tolkien’s creative spirit | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Ursula Le Guin, the language of Earthsea, and Tolkien

Posted on 22 January 2021 by John Garth

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 →

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Tolkien’s last friend in Oxford when the world went to war

Posted on 29 July 2019 by John Garth

‘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 →

Posted in 100 years of Middle-earth, Research tangents, Tolkien in the First World War | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Tolkien the opera composer

Posted on 21 August 2017 by Peter Gilliver

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 →

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Win over £1,000/$1,000 worth of Tolkien books and help Oxford University preserve First World War history

Posted on 16 June 2017 by John Garth

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 →

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Gardening the corner of a foreign field

Posted on 25 May 2017 by John Garth

As the Commonwealth War Graves Commission marks its centenary, I recall a 2014 visit to Flanders and northern France when I spoke to the gardeners who keep the cemeteries pristine. With its postcards of poppies and memorials, its hotels and … Continue reading →

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Robert Quilter Gilson, TCBS – a documentary

Posted on 11 May 2016 by John Garth

When Tolkien writes in the Foreword to The Lord of the Rings that ‘by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead’, he is referring to his friends in a clique formed at school but later bonded by … Continue reading →

Posted in Research tangents, Tolkien in the First World War | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments