Visual

J.R.R. Tolkien in the grounds of Merton College, Oxford, 1968. © BBC.

Tolkien in Oxford

In 1968 Tolkien, aged seventy-six, agreed to be filmed for the BBC documentary, Tolkien in Oxford, produced by a young Oxford graduate, Leslie Megahey. It was recorded over five days in February 1968 and broadcast in colour, 30 March 1968, on BBC 2.

Tolkien in Oxford, 1968

J.R.R. Tolkien recalls writing the first line of The Hobbit and describes his subsequent ambition to write a really long story.

Tolkien in Oxford, 1968

J.R.R. Tolkien speaks of his love of trees and his desire to communicate with them in some way.

Tolkien in Oxford, 1968

J.R.R. Tolkien talks about inventing languages from a young age and the pleasure he experiences when he encounters a new language.

Tolkien in Oxford, 1968

J.R.R. Tolkien emphatically denies that The Lord of the Rings is an allegory or that it contains any hidden references to the atomic bomb.

Tolkien in Oxford, 1968

J.R.R. Tolkien states that The Lord of the Rings is predominantly about death and he quotes Simone de Beauvoir, ‘There is no such thing as a natural death’.

A Film Portrait of J.R.R Tolkien

To celebrate the centenary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s birth in 1992, the Tolkien Estate commissioned a documentary featuring family, friends and scholars. A highlight of the film is Christopher Tolkien, his third son and literary executor, talking perceptively about his father’s work and motivations.

A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1992

Christopher Tolkien speaks about his father’s capacity for creation and his ability to compel ‘literary belief in an unreal world’.

A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1992

Christopher Tolkien explains his father’s antipathy to machinery and describes the Ring as ‘the ultimate machine because it was made for coercion’.

A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1992

Christopher Tolkien describes his father’s ‘love for the primary fundamental simplicities of the natural world.’

A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1992

Christopher Tolkien traces the development of The Silmarillion and examines its relationship to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1992

Christopher Tolkien talks of the many obstacles that prevented his father completing The Silmarillion: ‘He couldn’t finish a Silmarillion that would stand in relation to The Lord of the Rings’.