Battle of the Somme 90th Anniversary July 1st

[davem]

Having just received permission from the author, here is the email:

David

Yes, I am the Fr. Waddington-Feather who put that note on the BBC website. I met Michael Tolkien many years ago at an Assistant Masters' Association annual conference. We were area delegates and he, I believe, taught at Stoneyhurst School in Lancashire.

He was much older than I and had been in an ack-ack unit during the war. I still have his letters somwhere. He also told me his father introduced Mirkwood into The Hobbit because he, Michael, was afraid of spiders and The Hobbit began life as bedtime stories to Tolkien's children. Controlled fear always adds spice to a story for kids. I know, I had three of my own.

I have another link with Tolkien. Before he went to Oxford, he was Professor of English at Leeds just before I went there, but he left his mark very much on the English Language and Medieval Literature Dept. which I was in. My own children's novels owe something to his style, especially Legends of Americada, written for the American market.

However, my mentor as far as writing goes was J.B Priestley whom I corresponded with through the Yorkshire Dialect Society, when I was secretary, then met when he was an old man in the 1980s. He gave me much good advice. I'm now a vice-president of the J.B.Priestley Society and was its first chairman ten years ago.

I'm beginning to ramble on like the old man I am now. Finally, by all means reproduce my short BBC e-mail (warts and all) as you wish. I attach my own booklist.

My good wishes,

John Waddington-Feather

Now, its been pointed out to me that Micheal was not averse to 'embellishing the facts', so its still possible that it didn't happen exactly as reported. However, against that, we have to take into account that this was an incident told by a man to his friend, & a man of the cloth at that.

I suppose we'll never know for certain whether the incident happened or not. I lean towards it having a grain of truth, but having, perhaps, grown in the telling.

[Mithalwen]

Michael was the schoolmaster. His grandson Boyd Baker (soi disant Royd Tolkien) talked about it in the interviews following his film wextra appearance.