Recently we were contacted by a Michael White, a writer who’s preparing a new biography of Tolkien. In his words, “I’m just writing to let you know that I’ve been approached to write a biography of Tolkien for global publication in late November this year. I’m working flat out on the book for delivery in mid-Sept. The book will be published by Alpha in the US and my regular publishers in a collection of territories around the world.
“I know some of you will be aware of the very good biography by Humphrey Carpenter, but I hope mine will be a little lighter and right up to date. I am of course a huge fan of Tolkien and have been for a quarter of a century and I intend my book to be a respectful and entertaining tale. Watch this space!”
His name might ring a bell for some of you. He is the author of twenty books: These include the international best-seller, Stephen Hawking – A Life In Science which has been translated into 15 languages; Einstein – A Life in Science and Darwin — A Life In Science (with John Gribbin). Early solo efforts included a collection of biographies for teenagers – Newton, Galileo, Lennon and Mozart and a biography of Isaac Asimov – Asimov – The Unauthorised Life (1994). Since then he has written the internationally best-selling: The Science of the X-Files (1996), an alternative biography of Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer which concentrates upon Newton’s obsession
with magic and alchemy. This was nominated by four British newspapers as ‘biography of the year’ in 1997 and was awarded ‘Book of the Year’ in the science category by Bookman Associates in the U.S, an honour he shared with Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. He followed this with Life Out There – a detailed look at the question of extraterrestrial life and Super Science, a continuation of the theme begun with The Science of the X-Files.
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Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)
Walk on the Moon, A (1999)
Psycho (1998) UK 
Perfect Murder, A (1998) UK
Thin Red Line, The (1998) UK 
Prophecy, The (1995)
American Yakuza (1994)
Ruby Cairo (1993)
Two Small Bodies (1993)
Young Guns II (1990)
Witness (1985)
Liv Tyler (Arwen)
Plunkett & Macleane (1999) UK
Cookie’s Fortune (1999) UK
Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) UK
Inventing the Abbotts (1997)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Empire Records (1995)
Ian Holm (Bilbo)
Joe Gould’s Secret (2000)
eXistenZ (1999)
Frankenstein (1994)
Blue Ice (1992) UK
Kafka (1991) UK
Hamlet (1990) UK
Dance with a Stranger (1985)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) UK
Alien (1979) UK
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Fixer, The (1968) UK
Martyn Sanderson (Bree Gatekeeper)
Ned Kelly (1970)
Hugo Weaving (Elrond)
Matrix, The (1999) UK
Strange Planet (1999)
Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)
Exile (1994) UK
Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The (1994) UK
For Love Alone (1986)
Miranda Otto (Eowyn)
Jack Bull, The (1999) (TV)
Thin Red Line, The (1998)
Love Serenade (1996)
Ian Mune (Farmer Maggot)
Once Were Warriors (1994)
Elijah Wood (Frodo)
Faculty, The (1998) UK
Good Son, The (1993)
Forever Young (1992) UK
Avalon (1990)
Child in the Night (1990) (TV)
Internal Affairs (1990)
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)
Talented Mr. Ripley, The (1999)
Pushing Tin (1999) UK
Ideal Husband, An (1999) UK
Ian McKellen (Gandalf)
X-Men (2000)
Gods and Monsters (1998) UK
Apt Pupil (1998) UK
Rasputin (1996) (TV)
Restoration (1995) UK
And the Band Played On (1993) (TV)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Ballad of Little Jo, The (1993) UK
Plenty (1985) UK
John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)
Secret of the Andes (1998) UK
Cyborg Cop (1994)
Sunset Grill (1993)
Seventh Coin, The (1992)
Canvas (1992)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987) (TV)
Firewalker (1986)
King Solomon’s Mines (1985)
Andy Serkis (Gollum)
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Among Giants (1998) UK
Bruce Spence (Mouth of Sauron)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Sean Astin (Sam)
Icebreaker (1999)
Kimberly (1999)
Bulworth (1998) UK
Dish Dogs (1998)
Harrison Bergeron (1995) (TV)
Low Life, The (1994/I)
Encino Man (1992) UK
Toy Soldiers (1991) UK
Memphis Belle (1990)
Staying Together (1989)
War of the Roses, The (1989)
Goonies, The (1985)
Christopher Lee (Saruman)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Jinnah (1998) UK
Death Train (1993) (TV) UK
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Last Unicorn, The (1982)
Safari 3000 (1982)
1941 (1979) UK
Return from Witch Mountain (1978) UK
Four Musketeers, The (1974) UK
Creeping Flesh, The (1973)
Three Musketeers, The (1973) UK
Horror Express (1972)
Death Line (1972) UK
Theatre of Death (1967) UK
Gorgon, The (1964) UK
Longest Day, The (1962)
City of the Dead, The (1960)
Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1959) UK
Tempi duri per i vampiri (1959)
Cockleshell Heroes, The (1955)
Bernard Hill (Theoden)
Loss of Sexual Innocence, The (1999) UK
True Crime (1999) UK
Midsummer Night’s Dream, A (1999) UK
Mountains of the Moon (1990)
Shirley Valentine (1989) UK
Bounty, The (1984)
Gandhi (1982)
Brad Dourif (Wormtongue)
Shadow Hours (2000)
Storytellers, The (1999) UK
Nightwatch (1998)
Bride of Chucky (1998) UK
Urban Legend (1998)
Step Toward Tomorrow, A (1996)
Murder in the First (1995)
Death Machine (1995)
Color of Night (1994)
Body Parts (1991) UK
Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein (1991)
Jungle Fever (1991) UK
Exorcist III, The (1990)
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Jim Rygiel (SFX)
Anna and the King (1999) UK
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) UK
Species (1995)
Cliffhanger (1993) UK
Last of the Mohicans, The (1992)
Batman Returns (1992)
Alien³ (1992) UK
Ghost (1990)
2010 (1984) UK
Howard Shore (Composer)
Yards, The (2000)
Cell, The (2000)
High Fidelity (2000)
Analyze This (1999) UK
eXistenZ (1999)
Dogma (1999) UK
Cop Land (1997) UK
Striptease (1996)
Se7en (1995)
Ed Wood (1994)
M. Butterfly (1993)
Sliver (1993) UK
Prelude to a Kiss (1992) UK
Single White Female (1992) UK
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
She-Devil (1989)
Big (1988)
Moving (1988)
Fly, The (1986) UK
After Hours (1985) UK
Places in the Heart (1984) UK
To get more information, use the sites I use like:
mydigiguide.com, tv-now.com and IMDB.com
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Ringer fan Mike swears that Disney, in its latest film “Atlantis,” is borrowing some things from Tolkien. Check it out:
“Last night I went to see the new Disney film, ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ (I live in South Africa and it came out here on Friday). Well, near the beginning of the film, there is a scene where Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox’s voice) is giving a lecture on the city of Atlantis and how he plans to find it – he’s actually talking to dummies and pretending that they’re people, but that’s not the point. The point is that on his chalk board are weird runish letters and underneath them is the translation of the letters – something about Iceland. If you look closely at the runes that are supposed to be “ancient writings” they begin to look a little familiar to a Tolkien fan. Why? Because most of the letters are Elvish (or Dwarvish?) runes taken from ‘The Lord of the Rings’!!!
I guess the animators must be ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans because the runes are right there in your face. See the film again and you’ll know what I mean. I have included some runes that I remember being on the chalk board in the film (I drew them in Paint, so they pretty much suck – but you’ll get the idea).
That’s it.
Mike“
I haven’t seen Atlantis yet, but I’d love to see if this could be true!
Talk with Fans about this Story
Update
Fans are already reacting and Gastbona sends in a very good point:
“I am not saying that there are no Tolkien fans at Disney, but I don’t necessarily think the runic writing is a homage to the good professor.
Atlantis was suppose to begin with Vikings discovering a text about Atlantis or something like that. It is reasonable, in the world of animated films, to think that Fox’s character if reading from an Icelandic source would read something written in runes, or the futhark as it is referred to. This same alphabet, with a few minor changes, was used for the Thror’s map in the Hobbit and as the basis for some of the elvish alphabets.
What I think you have here is that both the artists at Disney and Tolkien went back to a common medieval source for inspiration. “
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Waiting, waiting, waiting for those movies. Here’s some more ways to kill time. The first one’s VERY short – the famous ‘Book-a-minute’ website’s version of the Hobbit and other sf/fantasy classics including LOTR. [More]
Another fun thing to do is visiting the ShirePost site: “Shire Post is a service organization devoted to providing communications services to the Hobbits of The Shire and surrounding regions, known as the Hobbit Postal District (HPD). Services include postage stamps, postal services, monetary conversions, coinage, maps, a News service, classified advertising, and administrative access.”
Thanks to Aurora Gamgee for those!
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French cinema site “CinéBobine” is currently running a contest where people can win a set of ten post-cards dedicated to “The Lord of the Rings”.
You just have to answer five questions (in french) about Peter Jackson’s version of “The Lord of the Rings”.
Here are the 5 questions in english:
Who was the first actor chosen to play Aragorn?
Who is the minor character that helps the Hobbits in the books, but is not in the films?
What is the exact date that the first teaser trailer appeared online?
What Richard Donner film did Sean Astin (Sam) make his debut in?
What did PJ stop working on to do LOTR?
Thanks to Thomas Gilbert from CinéBobine.
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Steve wrote with a worry about the BBC report that appeared today, which said that two members of the Fellowship die in ‘TheTwo Towers.’ He wondered if they were misinformed regarding Gandalf’s death. I reckoned that was open to interpretation, but there are more glaring errors in the report. Here’s my reply to him:
“Though there are those who argue that Gandalf does truly die and is ‘resurrected’ – that would be in tune with Tolkien’s Catholic beliefs. However he was wary of proclaiming his personal beliefs to anyone and everyone, so the implication of ‘resurrection’ is just left as a possibility.
However I notice the BBC article misspells Tolkien’s name and has the lunatic assertion that Middle-earth is based on the countryside round Sarehole, Birmingham. Sarehole’s not particularly notable for snow-capped mountain-ranges, volcanic ash-cones etc. Sarehole surely served as Tolkien’s inspiration for the Shire, but Middle-earth is a great deal more than just the Shire.
That said, the article is interesting because they’ve tracked down two Tolkien relatives I’ve never heard of before, and it was great to see that they’ve carried on the tradition of creativity in the family!
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