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:
Quote:
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I only really meant that he reposed gracefully on a lofty pinnacle above my criticism. (Letter 46)
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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