AUDIOVISUAL
J.R.R. Tolkien in the grounds of Merton College, Oxford, 1968. © BBC.
Tolkien was a man of the written word. He grew up in an era when writing was the main form of communication and still photography was an expensive and formal process. During his lifetime, technology developed rapidly with cameras and tape recorders becoming available for personal use, and radio and then television developing into mainstream media. Tolkien was not averse to using new technology and was recorded both on audio tape and on film.
Audio
J.R.R. Tolkien in Bournemouth, 1965.
Tolkien was skilled at reading aloud and indeed read The Lord of the Rings to his friends in the Inklings as he wrote it. As an interviewee his voice was sometimes less distinct and this may have been due to his lifelong habit of smoking a pipe. Visitors recalled him talking with his pipe clasped firmly between his teeth and stopping frequently to re-light it, draw on it deeply and blow smoke-rings.
Visual
J.R.R. Tolkien in the grounds of Merton College, Oxford, 1968. © BBC.
Rare footage of J.R.R. Tolkien captured in 1968 just five years before he died, and of his son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, filmed in 1992 for the centenary of his father’s birth, provides revealing insights into his literary work.