Tolkien as a British Character

[Bêthberry]

Right now, we've got this highly respectable Oxford don, dedicated family man, sincere in his faith, who in his spare time--and not so spare time, even when marking exams and papers--was given over to creating languages which would never be spoken (unless purloined for modern movies) and making up worlds, histories and mythologies complete with maps and geneologies using species that defy known laws of physics and physiology.

So, does this earn Tolkien a place in that great Pantheon of English Eccentricity? Is he one of the great Oddballs of Oxford? Was he barking up an Entish tree?

We are so accustomed here on the Barrow Downs to upholding Tolkien's integrity in the face of academic derision and belittling critics, but I wonder sometimes if in fact we don't do Tolkien a greater injustice in failing to see that he belongs to his nation's great traditions of Quirky Characters.

What say ye all?

Here's summat to get you started thinking: Mad dogs and Englishmen