Ok, I must admit I made a little mistake, I don't know if it matters much, but the question should have been:

Tolkien referred to someone as "Olympian", so not "an" Olympian...

Anyway, a hint: initials: W.R., and according to Tolkien not a good lecturer.

Ah, the initials did the trick - thank you! It was Walter Raleigh of whom Tolkien was speaking to G. S. Gordon; his reason for calling him 'Olympian' is quite amusing:

That's the guy!
Your turn again.:smokin:

JRRT was awarded a high honour late in life - what was it?

Do you mean the honorary doctorate at Oxford in 1972 for his work in philology?

That's an honour too, but I was thinking more along the lines of national honour...

Then you must mean the CBE he received from the Queen!

That's the one I was thinking of - well done, Mariska!

Thanks.

"May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them, if such be my lot."

Who adressed Tolkien in this way?

It took me awhile to figure out where to begin to look for this quote, and when I thought about how few people would have addressed him as "John Ronald" and thought similarly enough to want him to speak for them, I found the answer quite quickly. It was G. B. (Geoffrey Bache) Smith, one of the members of the T.C.B.S., in a letter written shortly before his death in WWI. It begins as follows:

Very good.:)

Which was JRRT's first published work, and when and where was it published?

It was his poem The Battle of the Eastern Field, which was published in The King Edward's School Chronicle in March 1911.

Quite right, Squatter - do I remember rightly that it was about some ball game match? I can't find a reference to the contents right now.

Looks like Squatter is temporarily absent, so since the 10-day limit is up, I'll post another question. It would be a shame to let this good thread die an untimely death!

Which of Tolkien's sons experienced a loss that led JRRT to tell and write which story?

Anyone want to try?

Michael Tolkien lost a small toy dog on the beach while on holiday. Roverandom was written mainly to cheer him up.

Quite right, Squatter! Though the boy in the story had no name, he was called 'little boy Two', since Michael was JRRT's second son.

In J. I. M. Stewart's A Memorial Service, a brief posthumous appearance is made by a character who appears to have been based on Tolkien. What is his name?

Could it be Timbermill?

The author of The Magic Quest himself. Professor Timbermill it is.

Tolkien criticised(sp) Lewis's work "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because according to Jrr Lewis didn't develop a careful mythology as basis.
What subtitle did he give to this work of Lewis?

A split in the friendship
 

Are you referring to Tolkien's comment to Roger Green?

Tolkien dismissed LWW after hearing it read with the complaint, "Nymphs and their Ways, The Love-Life of a Faun"

That was exactly what I was looking for. ;)

What are friends for?
 

Hrum, Hroom Let me not be too hasty getting a new question up!

What did Tolkien tell Nevill Coghill about Treebeard?

He told him that he modeled Treebeard's way of speaking on C. S. Lewis' booming voice. Hm, hoom!

Ent that the truth Estelyn.

Your go.

Which two characters in Tolkien's works are quite autobiographical, telling us about his thoughts and feelings more directly than any other characters?

I didn't think that this question was so difficult - do you want a minor hint?

Oh, Estelyn, I have a Niggling reply in mind but I had a Major feeling that I should stand back and let others try their hand.

Well, instead of an answer, Bêthberry gave another hint - anyone want to try?

Well, Esty, I guess I was simply too cryptic. ;)

Leaf by Niggle I would say, and Smith of Wootton Major, to be more plain about it. :)


Edit: shame about the Sniggle. Must have been thinking of Nmith.

Right answer, Bêthberry - nothing to niggle at! Your turn...

worth a thousand words
 

Right, then, Estelyn, here's my go at it.

Tolkien praised one of his illustrators very highly. He said that the pictures "are more than illustrations; they are a collateral theme."

Of whom was he speaking?

:)
 

Might it be Pauline Baynes?

It might indeed, Son of Númenor. Your go. And welcome to this thread. :smokin:

Merry Wollstonecraft? Charles Arwen? Tolkien's neighbour....
 

Which Lord of the Rings character's name was not-so-subtly derived from the name of one of J.R.R. Tolkien's real-life neighbours in Sarehole?

Frankly, there's no Mr. Shankley
 

Well now, there was apparently an old farmer who had chased young Ronald for picking mushrooms à la Farmer Maggot, but I think he has come down to us known only by the moniker of "the Black Orgre." And the miller's son was nicknamed "The White Ogre" but again, we lack an historical name.

Yet there was a Birmingham man who invented a surgical bandaid (plaster?) which became known as "gamgee-tissue", derived from his name, Dr. Gamgee. In the Warwickshire dialect 'gamgee' meant cotton wool. And that's how he came to be named, our Sam, I am suggesting.

Misinformation
 

It seems, sadly, that I have been misinformed. I was operating under the impression that Mr. Samson Gamgee was a neighbor of J.R.R. Tolkien's in Sarehole. In fact, Tolkien was unaware of Mr. Gamgee at the time that The Lord of the Rings was published. It was only after the book was published that Mr. Gamgee, a local Birmingham man and notable inventor as you said Bêth, became known to Tolkien.

Samwise Gamgee's name was not a derivation of Samson Gamgee's. Therefore my initial question was flawed and, since Bêth provided the factually accurate answer, I yield the floor. ;)

Apologies,
Númenor

How we are engaged
 

Such are the conflations of memory and art, Son of Númenor, wherein we make our meaning. No great error, I would think. As Tolkien himself said, what if a Mr. S. Gollem should appear on his doorstep!

Which brings me to my question now. In honour of Mother's Day (at least in North America, although not in England), let me ask this.

In what way was Tolkien's engagement to Edith Bratt similar to Mabel Suffield's engagement to Arthur Tolkien?