Tolkien Gleanings #290

* Officially announced by the Faculty of English at Oxford, the death of Professor Vincent Gillespie, FBA who was… “the emeritus J.R.R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language”.

* Now online, the official announcement for the 2025 J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture in Fantasy Literature in Oxford. Booking details, plus the statement that… “For anyone who cannot make the event, it will be recorded and uploaded to our website and YouTube channel after the event.”

* New on YouTube, a Zoom recording of an online Tolkien colloquium: ‘Good and Evil in Middle-earth’ (March 2025). Part of the ‘Moral Values in Fantasy Literature’ project, University of Notra, Slovakia.

* Also new on YouTube, Holly Ordway for ‘The Great Thinkers’ introductory podcast series, on “Who was Tolkien? His Life and Ideas”.

* The Two Towers in Mongolian, a translation due to be published at the end of March 2025. The Hobbit and Fellowship have already been published in Mongolia, in the same series. I’d imagine that the horse-lords of the Rohirrim will resonate with many Mongolian readers.

* Tolkien in Dorset. Newly launched for summer 2025, a… “Writers’ Trail map: Follow in the footsteps of some of the UK’s best-loved writers and discover the landscapes that influenced them, including […] J.R.R. Tolkien …”. One would have thought Lyme Regis, the coastal resort where Tolkien spent three holidays as a boy, and where he later returned with his own family. But no, it’s “Bournemouth East Cliff”.

* At the Evesham Festival of Words this weekend… “a 20-mile bike ride learning about the area’s connections to writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and William Morris”.

* New online and free, at the Ordnance Survey Maps Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952 website, ‘OS Maps 1900s Text Search’ of text on maps, and a set of ‘Town Plans, 1920-34’. The latter including Oxford and Leeds. Possibly useful for researchers.