Sir Ian McKellen has returned to Wellington with plans to drop in on an old stomping ground – the hobbit hole at Bag End. The revered British actor, who played the wise wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is in New Zealand with the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the title role in King Lear. He intends to catch up with old friends while in Wellington, and Peter Jackson has invited him to stay at his home in Wairarapa. “He kept the set of Bag End, which was Frodo’s house, and set it up for guests with running water, so I’m going to spend the night there,” Sir Ian said yesterday. “It’ll be the one the hobbits were in which made them look small, so it’ll be big enough for humans.” [More]