The One hundred and seventeenth Roving Ranger

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Special note

The Tolkien Birthday Toast, January 3

The Roving Ranger and other of my ventures are reader-supported publications. To receive additional posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Life & Works

Dec 29, 1966. Tolkien writes Letter 293 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - denying a request for an interview with the Scotsman (see note).
Dec 30, 1961. Tolkien writes Letter 236 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - on ‘influences’
Jan 1, 1910. The earliest preserved diary entry (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Tolkien.
Jan 2, 1917. Tolkien declares himself fit to report for duty (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Jan 3, 1892. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is born.

Events & Shows

Arden Theatre in Philadelphia has The Hobbit in April & May 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Cannock Chase Council is proposing the closure of the Cannock Chase Museum (Si apre in una nuova finestra), host to a Tolkien exhibition that attracted 90,000 visitors in 2016 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Silmarillion Writers’ Guild is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with Mereth Aderthad (Si apre in una nuova finestra)(July 2025; proposals due Jan 15, 2025)

The people at the Tolkien Guide did a 2024 review (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Youtube]

The Lord of the Rings musical is coming to Singapore in August 2025. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Linkedin]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Tom Hillman has Lúthien Unbound? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Robin Reid has War of the Rohirrim & Hollywood "Feminism" (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Feminists & Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

doubtfulsea has The Toys of Dale (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Jeff LaSala has So I Saw The War of the Rohirrim . . . (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Merchandise & Franchise

The Yard VFX has provided a Rings of Power season 2 breakdown (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Interview: Production Designer Kristian Milsted Discusses (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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" (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Théoden and Snowmane as a moving brick version (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [both Instagram]

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

There are now LotR Squishmallows (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Instagram]

Warner Bros. has an Eye of Sauron Yule (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [NZ Herald]

You can see Jay R Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at the trots in New Zealand. [Harness Link]

Witcher IV (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is coming [Wertzone]

PEN America Report Confirms School Book Bans Are Surging (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Publishers Weekly]

For all things literature have a look at the Library Thing 2024 in Review (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Books by Richard Adams That Are Not By The Author of Watership Down (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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