The Eighty-fifth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

April 30, 1915. Tolkien writes the poem Kôr (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
April 30, 2001. Tolkien Studies: Volume 1 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is published.
May 2, 1968. Tolkien writes Letter 302 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

A photograph of me pretending to be at work would be entirely bogus. [#302]

May 5, 1977. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is first published in the UK.
~, 2009. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is published.
May 6, 1968. Tolkien writes Letter 303 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

I lived in a small cottage almost immediately beside it, and the old miller of my day and his son were characters of wonder and terror to a small child. [#303]

May 10, 1966. Tolkien was bothered by fan phone calls as his number was still in the directory; writing to Joy Hill he said:

Removing the number from the directory seems better than the method adopted by Major W. H. Lewis in protecting his brother, which was to lift the receiver and say 'Oxford Sewage Disposal Unit' and go on repeating it until they went away. [#287 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

May 11, 1922. A Middle English Vocabulary (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra)'s first book, is published.
[Note: Tolkien was fairly consistent in when he wrote letters. (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Tolkien Guide)]

Events & Shows

A Swiss theatre in Zürich (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is doing LotR. Early reviews suggest it does not really have much to do with the book but it seems to be quite the experience.

The Hobbit opened at the National Children's Theatre (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in South Africa.

The Sir Gawain event in Glasgow recording is online (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The San Francisco Symphony (Si apre in una nuova finestra) will be playing the LotR: Fellowship score in 2024.

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB].

Scholarship and Fandom

A small yet fun detail noted in Tolkien’s wartime fireworks (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

An interview with Craig Williamson brings up a lot of Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and hints at a "study of the nature of riddles (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and riddlic play in Old English poetry and the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien."

John D. Rateliff provides information (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the University of Glasgow Sir Gawain event. He also has some thoughts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the recent fanfic author sues Estate/ PV for copyright infringement case (see link below). In addition to this the suggestion that the second Doctor (Si apre in una nuova finestra) might be an inspiration for McKellen's Gandalf?

Mike Foster passed away, a stalwart Tolkienist, amazing teacher/professor, musician, and friend to many. [obituary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and notes by David Bratman (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Marquette University Libraries (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Jessica Burke and Anthony Burdge, (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Melody Green (Si apre in una nuova finestra), John Garth (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Douglas A. Anderson (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Mike's daughter with wishes how to honour her dad (Si apre in una nuova finestra).]

A review on Inkling, Historian, Brother: A life of Warren Hamilton Lewis by Bruce Charlton (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The proceedings (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of the Tolkien Seminar 2021 of the Tolkien Society will soon be available.

Stephen C. Winter has some thoughts on Gandalf and the Awakening of the Ents (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Read up on the AMA (Si apre in una nuova finestra)with Battle of Maldon editor Peter Grybauskas.

Franchise and Merchandise

The LotR: War of the Rohirrim (Si apre in una nuova finestra) anime will have a preview section at Annecy (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

If you have asked yourself where all of these LotR:RoP drone photos are coming from - reddit user Jake Reed (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is providing them.

Elijah Wood makes interesting comments on the upcoming Middle-earth films (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in an interview. [GQ]

LotR: Gollum has published another trailer, this time with 4K RTX on (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Their social media team has also started sharing character cards (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Barry Humphries has passed away. He may have played the Great Goblin but was better known as Dame Edna Everage (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [NZ Herald]

Someone sued the Estate and Prime Video for copyright infringement (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [PCGamer]

You may believe it or not, the WB Discovery ad did not troll (Si apre in una nuova finestra) LotR: RoP. [AdWeek]

Given the fact all franchises work like this these days the cosmological nostalgia content (Si apre in una nuova finestra) should be mentioned. [xkcd]

A couple of months ago Weta Workshop asked for design suggestions - and are now turning them into reality (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Weta with FB]

LotR:RoP has been very quiet on the publicity front in recent weeks but they are part of the Prime Video FYC experience (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for the Emmys (Si apre in una nuova finestra); May 7 has a panel [DailyRoP (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Lord of the Rings: Online (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has turned 16 this week, congratulations.

Inter alia & Back in the day

Streaming data (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for March 13-19 by Nielsen will give you a few ideas what people have been watching recently [Hollywood Reporter]

All the things Star Wars (Si apre in una nuova finestra) coming up. [Collider]

Carrie Fisher will receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Si apre in una nuova finestra) posthumously.

Twitter is upping its creepiness by giving the dead (Si apre in una nuova finestra) blue ticks [Inquisitir; Forbes (Si apre in una nuova finestra)].

Kudos to this study of the GRRM Winds of Winter timeline (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Week]

Lord of the Flies (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is going to be adapted for the BBC.

If you want to know more how "AI" and things like ChatGPT have come into being - the Washington Post has done research (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the actual data sets that made some of this possible. Also, the Independent (Si apre in una nuova finestra) gives a short introduction whether it is time to panic over "AI".

On Jim Henson's fantasy film classic, The Dark Crystal, in an almost overlooked interview with director Bernard Rose (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [YT, ca. 4 mins]

Somehow it seems hard to believe that Walt Disney Studios have been founded 100 years ago (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Why do we eat popcorn - a short history (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [YT, ca. 5 mins.]

Hogwarts Legacy has made the OST (Si apre in una nuova finestra) available.

The Witcher (season 3) offered a teaser trailer (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Dune 2 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) had also something to offer.

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Twitter (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Tolkien-Discord (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [de/en]

Additional news provided in recent weeks to my members at Steady

RR+: The Bod is archiving tweets (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - including me 🤩
RR+: Tolkien Society Awards (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - vote now open!
RR+: 70 years after (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - Tolkien's lecture on Sir Gawain in Glasgow
RR+: Tolkien and Smith Conference (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Corpus Christi College, Oxford
RR+: 'Lord of the Rings' (Si apre in una nuova finestra) musical tickets now available
RR+: New Illustrated Edition (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of 'The Hobbit' Announced
RR+: "Tolkien letters (Si apre in una nuova finestra) shine new light on writer’s life and work"

What to look forward to in 2023 if you like Tolkien and all things Tolkienian

Meet and greet with the Tolkienist in 2023