Are you looking for a collaborative #PhD that combines the study of algorithmic life with experience in the museums/heritage sector? Our collaborative doctoral partnership with #ImperialwarMuseums could be for you. Closing date 28 May 2026 www.iwm.org.uk/sites/defaul...
Tolkien built his own world, complete with languages, mythology, and a cosmology explaining the creation of his world, ALL without relying on a massively exploitative machine that generates derivatives of pre-existing creations.
Westmoot 2026 - a convention all about Tolkien!
This Tolkien Society event will see hundreds of Tolkien fans come together in Minneapolis from May 22 to May 24 to learn about Tolkien and celebrate together. Sign up at westmoot.org
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i... An Instant Classics (sort of) two-parter. Here Charlotte and I talk about my book on the excitement of Classics. Next time Grayson Perry on why he hates classical civ!
Astonished to learn that ‘Silence of the Gods’ sold nearly 3k copies in the second half of 2025. These are numbers I'm not used to seeing 😮
www.sciencenews.org/article/conl... #conlang
The Vale of York Cup - Part of a 10th century hoard discovered by two metal-detectorists in a field between York and Harrogate in 2007. The Viking Age hoard is now part of the collections at the Yorkshire Museum in York. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #YorkshireMuseum
Born on this day: Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, or Margrethe II, is the former queen regnant of Denmark (1972–2024). She is also an artist who has illustrated British and Danish editions of The Lord of the Rings. FROM tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Margret...
Photo of the cover of the book The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by Tolkien, with illustration a photo of an old Scandinavian wood carving
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
This is Tolkien's adaptation/telling of the matter of the Volsungs and the aftermath with the Huns, to bridge a most unhappy lacuna in the main source text for the Icelandic […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Wonderful to visit The Imperial War Museum 'Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art' with Jessica Douthwaite. We also caught a brilliant talk by volunteer Charles on Laura Knight's painting of the Nuremberg trial.
A clip of Tolkien's letter titled Beautiful place because trees are loved, cut from the yellowed page of The Daily Telegraph from 4 July 1972, and fastened to the background with adhesive tapes. It is owned and copyrighted by The Telegraph. The letter said: Sir, with reference to your leader on 29 June, I feel that it is unfair to use my name as an adjective qualifying gloom especially in a context dealing with trees. In all my works I take the part of trees against all their enemies. Lothlorien is beautiful because there the trees were loved; elsewhere forests are represented as awakening to conscious of themselves. The Old Forest was hostile to two-legged creatures because of the memory of many injuries. Fangorn Forest was old and beautiful, but at the time of the story tense with hostility because it was threatened by machine-loving enemy. Mirkwood had fallen under the domination of a power that hated all living things, but it was restored to beauty and became Greenwood the Great before the end of the story.
"Beautiful Place because Trees are Loved" is the title of Tolkien's letter to The Daily Telegraph (4 July 1972)
A response to an article that used the phrase "Tolkien gloom" for trees, he insisted that he's always on the side of trees against their enemies. 1/4
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday
Another edition of the Roving Ranger has just been sent to its subscribers.
Including:
Visit the Tolkien bust; Barth & Tolkien; PA 16 available again; Tolkien & childhood; Bilbo's Long Shadow; Hunt for Gollum news; hobbit home for $50?; Tehran Argonath?; GNU Moo says Tolkien and much more..
Thinking of #JonathanFrid on the anniversary of his passing whose portrayal of the vampire Barnabas Collins on #DarkShadows will never be forgotten here is one of my fav scenes w/ him and his nemesis Burke Devlin a masterclass in acting youtu.be/Sk9XIq8Ud2I?si…
Arrived today two new excellent volumes from @UppsalaBooks - which should I dig into first? #books #medieval
New #Parsifal coming to @royaloperahouse.bsky.social next season! www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a... #wagner 🦢
Greeks and Romans had their own favorites among Homeric heroes, but Odysseus was always beloved. Archaeologists at sites on Ithaca have found centuries of offerings incised with dedications to him.
archaeology.org/issues/may-june-2026/collection/hometown-hero/the-unexpected-world-of-the-odyssey/
We're currently recruiting for five (yes five!) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership awards at IWM See the full list of projects and partners here, with further details of how to apply: www.iwm.org.uk/research/doc...
Incredible performance of #Mayerling last night at @royaloperahouse.bsky.social my fav ballet in an excellent production #MatthewBall was incredibly moving as Crown Prince Rudolph whose tomb I remember standing by in #Vienna. #ballet #rbo
Book cover
Double page spread from book
A rare volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s poetry, believed to be only one of three copies in private ownership, is up for sale by a Wallingford book dealer. ‘Songs for the Philologists’ was printed by students at UCL but hastily withdrawn when their tutor realised Tolkien had not given permission.
Logo including text of the organisation titles for the Imperial War Museums (IWM), University of Glasgow, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
🚨🎓Funded #PhD opportunity: AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship - ‘𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗿’, with Imperial War Museums (IWM) & University of Glasgow @glasgow.ac.uk. Supervised by Tim Peacock, Matt Barr & Ian Kikuchi. Apply by Friday 22 May, 5pm. October 2026 start. Details in next post.
Every day, I think: there’s no possible way it can get dumber and more embarrassing. And then Trump does something like this. And yes, this is real. It is all too real.
Another edition of the Roving Ranger has just been sent to its subscribers.
Including:
I am nominated for the TS Awards; Brandywine going UK; Sarehole returning; Tapestries at Angers; Songs for 65k; LEGO Smaug; upcoming films & games etc...
steady.page/en/bd48e165-...
Congrats to @felixjrt.bsky.social finished this over Easter break.Excellent exploration of The Golden Dawn members including Yeats, Arthur Machen and #Inkling Charles Williams. Specially interested now in Dion Fortune. Very well researched and great bibliography.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...
Don’t forget, tomorrow, Monday, April 6, is the first session of the @tolkiensociety.org’s Big Read with @clarelmoore.bsky.social and @erikjampa.bsky.social! It is free for Tolkien Society members, and the syllabus looks fantastic!✨
Check out Erik’s post-
erikjampa.substack.com/p/tolkien-so...
Finished. A timely and brilliant exploration into the origins of #Easter another excellent volume from @uppsalabooks www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...
For today’s annual #Karfeitag listening #wagner #parsifal
The @tolkiensociety.org's 2026 award nominations have just been published. Delighted that Our Guide to the Letters of J.R.R. #Tolkien has been nominated for best online content among many other worthy nominees in all categories. If you are a member then please vote in the awards this year.
Eglerio! Well deserved Marcel! 👏👏👏👏
I'M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE CRYING! 😭😢🤩🤓😅
THE ROVING RANGER HAS BEEN NOMINATED 😎🤩🤗
Thank you so much for this incredible honour and to be among such admirable folk - good luck to my fellow nominees 👍🤞💪
