Sad news this morning as TORN learns that Peter Woodthorpe, who brough Gollum’s voice to life in the BBC radio presentation and animated version of The Lord of the Rings, has died. According to monkeyheaven.com Woodthorpe had not been too well for a while. He was 72.
Category: LotR Books
Kate writes: Barnes and Noble University is having an online Tolkien course: This course provides an overview of The Hobbit and LOTR by JRR Tolkien. We’ll look first at Tolkien’s biography, his writing life, the origins of the stories, and their publication history. We’ll continue with lessons on each book, concentrating on Tolkien’s construction of a mythological world and its peoples and languages, his characters and their development, and his thematic concerns. Finally, we’ll look at Tolkien’s lasting influence on 20th-century fantasy literature, as well as on cultural movements such as neo-paganism and environmentalism. [More]
holbytla writes: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is on a new list compiled by the American Library Association of the most re-read fiction works (novels, plays an short stories). Other books on the list, which was not ranked, include:
- “The Color Purple”, Alice Walker
- The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
- “Pride and Prejudice”, Jane Austen
- Shakepeare’s plays
- “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee
- “Little House on the Prairie”, Laura Ingalls Wilder
- “A Christmas Carol”, Charles Dickens
- “Winnie the Pooh”, A.A. Milne
Josh writes: Just thought you’d like to know. I work in the Instructional Technology Center at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Recently, we began the implementation of a portal using Oracle, and we had to name the server. So, in honor of his journey to Mount Doom, and for saving Middle Earth, the server has been named “Frodo.” “frodo.utm.edu” will soon be a permanent fixture to our online presence. Anyway, just thought I’d pass that along. Oh, and LOTR rules!
“I am no man!” When undercover warrior Eowyn roared these words in the Peter Jackson’s adaptation of “Return of the King” last year, just before trouncing the vilest of the bad guys, she got an appreciative roar from theater audiences. It was a great punch line — literally. [More]
Magpie writes: The radio program, Speaking of Faith, addressed the topic of religion, fantasy and entertainment. They covered such diverse expressions of faith in entertainment as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Touched by an Angel. A guest on the program even made the assertion that Harry Potter and Mary Poppins are the same story told to two different eras. And of course, it covers the Lord of the Rings movies. [More]