Tolkien and Wartime Oxford

So, here's a brief allusion to Tolkien's work creating and administrating the syllabus for the accelerated cadet's course at Oxford during WW II:

"One of the most eye-catching initiatives was the course in English literature designed by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: this was the first external examination authorised by the University of Oxford."*

*The Book at War: How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading by Andrew Pettegree (2023)

endnote: Bruce R. Johnson, 'The efforts of C. S. Lewis to aid British prisoners of War during World War II', C. S. Lewis Journal. 12 (2018), pp. 41-76.

[endnote: Pettegree page 444]

I found this of interest because it co-credits Lewis, whom Tolkien outranked professionally. I'll have to hunt down Johnson's article.

--John R.

--current (re)reading:: the Murderbot series by Martha Wells

Kalamazoo 2025

 So, barring the unforeseen, it looks like I'll be going to Kalamazoo this year (April 8th thr 11th) after all.

If you see me, stop and say hello; I'll be the one with the brown fedora at the Tolkien events.

--John R.

Ring Any Bells?

 So, yesterday, going through a box, I came across the dungeon map I did as part of the Map Order for some adventure  I worked on back in TSR/WotC days (the comments on the map in green ink are in my handwriting).  Problem is, I don't remember what adventure it goes with. If anyone out there recognizes it, I'd be interested in comparing the draft with the published module.

--John R.

 

four billion dollars in gold

 So, this news item in the Guardian this weekend caught my eye:

[BEGIN QUOTE]

US banking giant JPMorgan plans to deliver $4bn of gold bullion to New York this month, before an anticipated escalation of Donald Trump’s trade-rebalancing tariff moves planned for Saturday.

The US bank, the world’s biggest bullion dealer, said it would deliver the hefty raw material, weighed as 30m troy ounces of gold . . .  against contracts that will expire in February.

The delivery comes as the price of gold has surged to $2,813 per ounce, and the delivery notices are the second largest ever in bourse data going back to 1994, according to Bloomberg.

The outlet has also reported that tariff-war fears have made it profitable to fly silver into the US – a commodity that typically is transported by ship because it is considered too cheap and bulky to justify the costs.

[END QUOTE]

--And here I thought Smaug had a fabulous fortune.

I wonder how much a dragon considered enough to keep him respectable. 

Not to mention how much gold and silver Bilbo packed away in that pony's saddlebags.  

And what Gandalf did with his half of the treasure he and Bilbo lugged all the way back to Bag-End.

--John R.

--current reading: Tanith Lee, THE BIRTHGRAVE

Dice

 So, I've been going to occupational therapy recently in hopes that it will help with the tremors in my hands, which sometimes make difficult things like writing, typing, zippers, buttons, et al. As a way towards setitng up one of  the exercises, the therapist asked if I have any dice.

Do I have dice? 

I have dozens of dice.  

(It used to be hundreds before I down-sized a few years back).

Polyhedral (d4, d8, d10, d20) and traditional (d6).

Opaque and crystaline.  Inked and un-inked (which I preferred). Pristine and worn-down.

A lot of these dice are beautiful but impractical, like the Roman pottery dice or set of somewhat skewed wooden dice. Or there's the beautiful but sinister set I picked up at last year's GaryCon, which have a die-within-the-die, with this interior die being a monstrous eye that floats freely to stare at the person rolling the die.

For years I carried a d8 (red) and d10 (green) around with me everywhere I went, just in case an impromptu game of D&D broke out nearby. And all gamers I used to play with had huge jars of dice somewhere around their gaming table.

In recent years things have changed. Most of the people I game with use electronic dice programs rather than actual physical dice. And it's clear they get just as much fun from and feel just as much suspense with the new virtual dice as with their predecessors. 

But there's still something iconic about rolling those weird dice.

--John R.

current reading: THE DRAGON HOARD by Tanith Lee (1971)

THE WIFE SAYS

Isn't that a paperback book you're reading?

Happy Tolkien Day

So, today is Tolkien's birthday (January 3rd, 1892).

You will often see it stated that he was born in South Africa, but this is not quite right. He was actually born in Bloemfontein ("Flower Foutain"), the capital of the Orange Free State, one of the Boer Republics. It makes for a good shibboleth when picking up a new book on JRRT whether the author says something like 'Tolkien was born in South Africa' instead of 'born in south Africa'. The latter is the more accurate; the former shows he or she has a more casual knowledge of the details of Tolkien's life.

As years go by, and Tolkien becomes more and more mainstream, and the number of books about Tolkien by authors are not themselves Tolkien experts increase, we'll be seeing a lot more stuff like that.  

--John R

P.S.: Here's an old button I've proudly worn at quite a few conventions over the years.

Speaking of Silly Season (Wooster and Jeeves)

So, here's a good note to end the year on: meeting up with our friends Jeff and Kate to see a new play based on the Wooster and Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse.  Wodehouse had an extraordinary career, writing about the same characters for sixty years --something of a record in itself. He aso survived imprisonment by the Germans during World War II (during which he was accused of being a collaborator), being championed by figures like George Orwell (never one to hold punches), and knighted by the Queen. 

More important to his readers, he was also one of the finest writers of his time. 

Highly recommended, if you find yourself in the mood for some silliness in these dark times.

--John R.

current reading: THE COTTINGLEY FAIRY PHOTOGRAPHS: NEW APPROACHES TO FAIRIES, FAKES AND FOLKLORE. ed. Simon Young.  Fairies and Fairylore series volume 14.