This Saturday (August 4) at 10.30am, Billy Boyd will narrate the story behind the first ever stage production of of J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit on BBC Radio 4.
The very first stage production, written by Humphrey Carpenter with music composed by Paul Drayton, was performed at New College School in Oxford in 1967.
Some of the choristers in that first production are now eminent in the musical world: choral conductor Simon Halsey, Opera North’s Martin Pickard and artist’s agent Stephen Lumsden. Composer Howard Goodall watched his older brother Ashley perform. They talk about their memories and of Tolkien’s presence in the audience on the last night.
Thanks to Ringer Andrew for the heads-up.
Update: Ringer HuanCry adds that Radio 4 is also broadcasting a documentary Tolkien in Love the day before.
[Billy Boyd and the Hobbit] | [Tolkien in Love]
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Alan Jacobs muses in The Atlantic that “from the beginnings of modern fantasy, in the work of Tolkien, technology has always been the enemy of the good life. But does it have to be that way?”
It’s an interesting thought piece that draws on some key comments Tolkien made in letters around the time Lord of the Rings was published.
“Anyway all this stuff is mainly concerned with Fall, Mortality, and the Machine.” Letter 131. Letters of JRR Tolkien.
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The Hobbit News for iPad App from TheOneRing.net is finally here! A feast of rich imagery and content, many have already found it in the Apple App store and downloaded it. As well as the good stuff already found in the iPhone App, the iPad version spreads it out for easier and more colourful reading with a brand new interface. Among the highlights are reading through all of the major stories from TheOneRing.net, a complete listing of cast and characters, video features, a diverse variety of Tolkien content, and even the ability to chat in Barlimans! We did have to charge a very small fee for this one, so we hope you consider spending the 99¢ to get it from the App store today. And of course, if you like it, why not drop us a review on the store! [
iPad Version] [
Free iPhone App]
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One can always count on Entertainment Weekly to compose some intriguing ‘Top’ lists. Their latest is the ‘Top 50 Most Vile Movie Villains,’ and sure enough, many classic villains are well represented. Among the top 50, only one Tolkien ‘villain‘ makes the list at No. 10:
He may only be a CGI character, but the conflicted, bipolar Gollum managed to be both cute and scary — a feat we hadn’t seen accomplished since Gremlins. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that his tendency to break out into cheerful song in between ruthlessly chasing the ring of power was, well, precious. Plus, he bit off Frodo’s fingers. And that’s pretty bad-ass. —Kate Ward
This reporter never really saw Gollum as a ‘villain’ per se, but hey, to each their own! For the complete list, jump on over to EW.com today! [Read More]
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Forbes writer Geoff Loftus writes about ‘4 Leadership Lessons from Aragorn‘, saying leadership lessons can be gleaned from Aragorn’s actions throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
For example, he compares Aragorn’s unwavering focus on the need to destroy The One Ring to Apple‘s never wavering focus on delivering a high-quality, well-designed customer experience with every product.
Read the full article at Forbes.com [Read More]
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For lovers and collectors of movie tie-in books, Houghton Mifflin is releasing a slew of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey tie-in books for adults and kids over the coming months. Veteran collectors will note the involvement of Jude Fisher and Brian Sibley.
However, the first of these is a movie tie-in edition of The Hobbit published by Mariner books that will debut on September 18. If the prints of the “movie” versions of the Lord of the Rings are a good guide (and we are pretty sure they are), the text will remain the same, with the cover an iconic image taken from the film.
Houghton Mifflin sent a full list list to reviews.libraryjournal.com of the of books will hit bookstores on November 6.
Check the full list under the cut. Continue reading “Hobbit movie’s book tie-ins debut in November”
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