The One hundred and seventeenth Roving Ranger

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Special note

The Tolkien Birthday Toast, January 3

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Life & Works

Dec 29, 1966. Tolkien writes Letter 293 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - denying a request for an interview with the Scotsman (see note).
Dec 30, 1961. Tolkien writes Letter 236 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - niggling over the Puffin Hobbit edition and its “elfish” as well as mentioning a fell winter in Oxford.
Dec 31, 1960. Tolkien writes Letter 226 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - on ‘influences’
Jan 1, 1910. The earliest preserved diary entry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Tolkien.
Jan 2, 1917. Tolkien declares himself fit to report for duty (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Jan 3, 1892. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is born.

Events & Shows

Arden Theatre in Philadelphia has The Hobbit in April & May 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Cannock Chase Council is proposing the closure of the Cannock Chase Museum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), host to a Tolkien exhibition that attracted 90,000 visitors in 2016 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Silmarillion Writers’ Guild is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with Mereth Aderthad (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)(July 2025; proposals due Jan 15, 2025)

The people at the Tolkien Guide did a 2024 review (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Youtube]

The Lord of the Rings musical is coming to Singapore in August 2025. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Jean Christoph-Carron, co-director and head of documentary films and series with ZDF/ Arte, notes that the new Tolkien documentary I am a part of has over “700k views plus 11k likes and over 700 supportive comments and praise on ARTE’s Youtube channels alone” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Linkedin]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Tom Hillman has Lúthien Unbound? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Robin Reid has War of the Rohirrim & Hollywood "Feminism" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Feminists & Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

doubtfulsea has The Toys of Dale (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Jeff LaSala has So I Saw The War of the Rohirrim . . . (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Merchandise & Franchise

The Yard VFX has provided a Rings of Power season 2 breakdown (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Interview: Production Designer Kristian Milsted Discusses (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Season Two of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ [Awards Radar]

The Folio Society sees pre-tax profit up 137% for 2023-4 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Bookseller]

Brick Tap says that two LEGO Icons sets with LotR in mind will happen 2025 - “Bag End” & “Gandalf vs. Durin’s Bane book nook" (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Théoden and Snowmane as a moving brick version (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [both Instagram]

LotR: War of the Rohirrim will be coming to streaming services on Dec 27th, 2024 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Deadline] and the steelbook edition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is scheduled for December 2025. [Blu-ray.com (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

There are now LotR Squishmallows (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Instagram]

Warner Bros. has an Eye of Sauron Yule (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) log fire [Youtube]

Inter alia & Back in the Day

Lord of the Rings - Barliman Butterbur - actor, NZ screen and stage star David Weatherley dies aged 85 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [NZ Herald]

You can see Jay R Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) at the trots in New Zealand. [Harness Link]

Witcher IV (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is coming [Wertzone]

PEN America Report Confirms School Book Bans Are Surging (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Publishers Weekly]

For all things literature have a look at the Library Thing 2024 in Review (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Books by Richard Adams That Are Not By The Author of Watership Down (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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