Tolkien slept here; and Tolkien illustrations

[wellinghall]

"I heard that Tolkien invented the word Orc as a play on Oxford Rugby Club."
http://academywatch.blogspot.com/2010/08/are-prole-kids-bigger.html

"I'm convinced Tolkien glommed onto the word wraith because of its echo of the Battle of Raith"
http://lintel.typepad.com/plentyofnothing/2010/08/the-battle-of-evermorton.html

"Tolkien hiked all over the Cotswolds, and many believe this door to be his inspiration for the door to Moria."
http://smarkas.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/england-2010-day-2-cotswold-farm-park-and-more-village-exploration/
(although this one might be real!)

"We finally end up in Chipping Campden, a slightly larger town, home to the Red Lion Inn, Tolkien’s favourite hotel in the area."
and
"Just outside Moreton-in-Marsh stands the Four-Shire-Stone, which used to mark where four English counties met. Borders have shifted slightly since, but Tolkien did base the Three Farthing Stone on it."
http://mringerjourneys.livejournal.com/5739.html

ETA: Tolkien travel posters:
http://www.zazzle.com/stevethomas

Hobbit covers from around the world:
http://www.hobbithunter.nl/web/news

Comments

[sally_maria]

That's a really nice blog entry on the Cotswolds, worth reading in its own right, quite apart from the Tolkien connection - thanks for the link. I have fond childhood memories of visiting the Cotswold Farm Park, though it must be the best part of 30 years since I've been there.

[elegaer.livejournal.com]

I loved Cotswold Farm Park, I used to almost live there as a kid - my poor mother must have been so sick of guinea pigs!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of orcs as rugby players. Orcs were corrupted from elves just as rugby was corrupted from football. Of course this equates William Webb Ellis* with Melkor...

And while I don't remember Tolkien saying explicitly that homosexuality was more common among orcs, as it surely is among rugby union players, neither do I remember coming across any female orcs in any of the books. Makes you think...



* Yes, I'm aware that this is probably a myth.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right about the tree, certainly I've seen that before. It might even have been you who posted the link!

[tree_and_leaf]

The travel posters are brilliant - I'm seriously tempted to buy one!

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the door to Moria, but the idea of Tolkien basing the Three Farthing Stone on such a border marker (albeit not necessarily that particular one) doesn't seem that implausible to me...