-
- Rare Interview with
J.R.R.Tolkien
- In a rare interview in 1966
reproduced in the Guardian in 1991, Tolkien described how important the little hamlet of
Sarehole had been in the development of his fictional vision: "It was a kind of lost
paradise ... There was an old mill that really did grind corn with two millers, a great
big pond with swans on it, a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers, a few old - fashioned
village houses and, further away, a stream with another mill . . . I could draw you a map
of every inch of it. I loved it with an (intense) love ... I was bought up in considerable
poverty but I was happy running about in that country. I took the idea of the hobbits from
the village people and children ..."
- The mill would have had a pastoral
economy and there would have been very few trees around the millpond. The mill we see
today is that of Sandyman and Sharkey, the name given to Saruman
when he runs the mill at the end of The Return of the King when the Hobbits return
to the Shire. This is due to the steam engine and chimney that belched out smoke
and fumes when in operation. Sam sees the mill in this state when he looks into
the Lady Galadriel's mirror. At the time when the Tolkien brothers played here,
the miller was George Andrew who often had to chase them out of the mill, for their own
safety. He would very often have been covered in white dust from grinding the bones to
produce fertiliser for local farms, hence why they nicknamed him the white ogre.
- This is one of the few fords open
to motor vehicles in Birmingham and, because of the shape of the River Cole Valley, it is
prone to flash floods. This would make the ford a good model for the ford at Bruinen where
the Black Riders are washed away whilst chasing the wounded Frodo on his way to Rivendell.
- Moseley Bog is the wooden Dell
that Tolkien is referring to where the brothers would come, play and pick mushrooms in the
field they passed through to reach the Dell. The farmer who owned the land where the boys
picked the mushrooms would chase the boys, steal their shoes when they paddled in the
brook and beat them when they went to get them back. They called him the Black Ogre
and in Lord of the Rings he is most likely Farmer Maggot.
- 5 Gracewell, now 264 Wake Green
Road is where the Tolkien Family lived from 1896 to 1900.
- These were various trees which
grew near where Tolkien grew up, which do have certain life-like features.
- Spring Hill college has a Gothic
style tower and occasionally big parties / celebrations
were held here with lots of food and fireworks. This is where the idea of Bilbo's 111th
birthday party possibly came from..
-
No-one really
knows a hundred per cent exactly which two towers Tolkien was referring to in the title of
his second book, however these are the mostly likely real life towers that Tolkien would
have taken his inspiration from.
- This tower was built in the
victorian age and is part of the Edgbaston Waterworks and is only about 100 yards away
from the tower below:
-
- The tower above is 96 feet (30
metres) high and is named after the man who had it built in 1758, John Perott:
- He mostly probably chose this name
from a local inventor Dr Joseph Sampson Gamgee. He was a Birmingham surgeon who invented
cotton wool, which became 'Gamgee tissue'. His widow lived opposite Tolkien's aunt in
Stirling Road.
-
- Edgbaston Clock Tower built in
1908 from the inside out, without the need of any scaffolding. It stands 100 feet-high and
commemorates the universities first chancellor Joseph Chamberlain, hence the nickname
"Old Joe." When it was first built it had its own power station because electricity was something very
new back then and it would have been one of, if
not the tallest buildings in Birmingham at the
time. The clock face (eye) can be seen from all over Birmingham and is always watching,
below is a picture from 1950. It would have lit up the sky and could therefore have been
where Tolkien got his idea for the eye of Sauron from.
-
- Tolkien was bitten by a Tarantula
whilst he in South Africa, when he was only 2 years old.So the idea of Shelob probably
came from that as to a child a tarantula is a VERY big spider.
-
- Bob Blackman the local historian
believes that Tolkien created the idea of Gollum from us humans, as he contains our
weaknesses and greed.
-
- Quotes
- "I am interested in themes
about friendship and self-sacrifice.
- This is a story of survival and
courage, about a touching
- last stand that paved the way
for the ascent of humankind."
— Peter Jackson
- "The greatest feeling of
success has been to watch all these bits
- and pieces of polystyrene
and metal and wood become a world
- so real you believe these
characters live there. We’ve painted
- Tolkien’s palette as much
as possible across the film."
—Richard Taylor
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- Last Updated: 29 May, 2006
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