John Garth on Tolkien: One to watch, one to hear, one look out for

I feature among a sizeable group of talking heads discussing Tolkien and his inspirations in a new German–French TV documentary from ARTE, Tolkien: The True Story of the Rings (Opens in a new window). For the full roster, you can nip over to Tolkien Gateway (Opens in a new window). The narration is in German with English subtitles. Interviewees speak their own languages, of course. The 90-minute programme, directed by Jean-Christoph Caron and Matthias Schmidt, is available in Europe, including the UK, but not in the US (unless you use a VPN, of course). Well worth watching.

I get the chance to take a deeper dive into how WW1 Inspired The Lord of The Rings (Opens in a new window) in a one-to-one interview with celeb historian Dan Snow for his History Hit podcast. First aired last April, the programme is being rolled out on his schedule again.

Another interview, given in Oxford back in November 2023, will go into a 2026 documentary by YLE, the Finnish national broadcaster. The whole programme is about Tolkien’s inspirations from Finland, so expect much on the catalytic role the Kalevala played in his formulation of a ‘mythology for England’, the Finnish language as inspiration for Quenya, and the primal hero Väinämöinen as model for Tom Bombadil. Here are a few shots from the shoot.

Over the years, I’ve given many interviews about Tolkien. There’s a fairly fully run-down (Opens in a new window) on my website, but only up to 2021. I’ve neglected the website partly because I’ve been focusing more directly on writing and research, and partly because it needs a complete technical and design makeover. Funds for that are drastically lacking. If you know anyone who would be keen to help me with the tech and design aspect in return for a modest fee and free membership of this Steady project, do point them in my direction.