A fascinating insider's interview

[Lalaith]

Many years ago, I read an interview with a very old Icelandic lady who had, in her youth, (around 1930) been a mother's help in Tolkien's home. I thought I had lost it, but I have just, in a clear-out, discovered it.

The old lady was quite frank about her opinions of the family. There is nothing hugely controversial or scandalous revealed, however while she is very complimentary about Tolkien himself, she found Edith in many ways a difficult employer, and something of a tragic figure.
For example, one of the reasons she was employed was to help Tolkien practice his Icelandic, but she never did as Edith didn't like them talking in a language she didn't understand.
However, she (the nanny) did tell the children Icelandic folktales while she was bathing them, and Tolkien always used to come in and listen, as he found them fascinating.

I am happy to write up a precis of the interview (it's a double page spread).

[Lindale]

Oooh! Very interesting! Can you upload the thing instead of putting a precis? Thanks very much!

Hmmm. The point with Edith and with Luthien on the other thread.. something ferments in the back of my little brain.

[Thinlómien]

Sounds really interesting... Please share!

[Groin Redbeard]

Fascinating, I'd love to hear more, Lalaith!

[Lalaith]

No point scanning it in, I very much doubt any of you would understand the lingo...! But there are also some lovely family snaps, Tolkien playing with baby Priscilla and so on. I'll try to scan them if I can.

I'll write up the precis tonight, if I have time, or tomorrow night.

[Lalaith]

The interview appeared in 1999 and the lady in question, named Arndis but known as ‘Adda’, was a doctor’s daughter from the West Fjords, who went to work with the Tolkiens when she was twenty, in 1930. She got the job because the Tolkiens had two mothers' helps from Iceland previously, Aslaug and Runa, and Aslaug had been a classmate of Adda’s.
Tolkien collected her from Oxford station and greeted her in Icelandic.
She then talks about her working conditions – she was meant to be one of the family, but she never had a holiday. The youngest of the children (presumably Priscilla) was in her second year.
She says that the Professor was a really lovely man, very easy and comfortable to be around, he loved nature, trees and everything that grew. The house they had just bought had an asphalt tennis court and the first thing they did was rip it up and put down grass. This is an example of how JRR and Edith hated modern things – another thing they both hated was central heating and boilers.
Edith loved flowers, and not only had splendid flower beds in her new home but kept going back to the old one to get plants.
Adda puts this down to English upper class eccentricity – the Tolkiens she says, loved flowers and writing letters. She has lots of letters from them, including decorated Christmas cards from the Tolkien children.
The oldest son, Johnny, was now 14 and in the new house he had his own room. The rest (including Adda) kept themselves to the nursery. The lady of the house (Edith) had a difficult nature, she wasn’t sociable and disliked most people.
Then Adda talks about how she was meant to come there to learn English and help Tolkien practice Icelandic but Edith got jealous if they talked in a language she didn’t understand. “She was never unkind to me, but she was never a friend either. And she was very over-protective.”
Adda says Oxford was at that time completely class-ridden – professors were a class unto themselves. Edith was also a snob – when the char (cleaning lady) went awol for a fortnight, Edith was furious when Adda decided to wash the doorstep. “You’re one of us, you must never be seen doing work suitable for servants.”
The Tolkiens rarely if ever entertained, and Adda was not impressed with their hospitality...”once a couple who were old friends, just back from many years in India, called round and they hadn't seen them for years, but just gave them tea in the morning room, with only one cake!”
Adda thinks that Tolkien was much more sociable by nature than Edith. She got to know Edith’s lovely old nanny, a Miss Gro (? not sure they got this name right) who joked that Edith would always have a migraine whenever there was a university ‘do’. Miss Gro also explained why Edith was so difficult – she blamed their traumatic courtship years. They faced opposition for years and ended up having to practically elope. They had stood firm together against all the odds, even though they may not have had much in common.
Adda said Edith spent a lot of time upstairs during the day but didn’t know what she actually did. She was a very promising pianist at the time when she married, had become an organist in a church. There was a parlour in the house which no-one ever went into, there was a piano there but Edith never touched it. None of the children learnt an instrument.
Whenever Tolkien had had a drink or two he was not allowed to sleep in the bedroom, he had to go into the guest room. She couldn’t stand the smell of drink on him. Tolkien was a lovely, comfortable man, didn’t talk much. He always came home to lunch every day, and went into his study after the meal. He would have a bottle of beer and a dry biscuit.

[Andtaurwen]

Pearce in his biography makes some interesting points;
Tolkien's insistence and Edith's hesitence on her conversion to the catholic faith caused their first major disagreement. He says that Edith was an active member of the Church of England, had many friends through the Church and enjoyed a certain status in the Paish. She was afraid of being ostracised whith Tolkien had no sympathy with. This led to Edith entering the Catholic church with mixed feelings which resulted in some resentment.
Pearce also says that Edith resented the time her husband spent with his academic friends, particularly C S Lewis. She never felt comfortable in academic circles and began to feel lonely and isolated.
He mentions that Tolkien was always concerned about Ediths health also that in later life that she was riddled with arthritis. This can show signs early in adult life so perhaps this is why she gave up the piano as she was suffering pain in her fingers?

[Lalaith]

On a less gossipy and more literary level I'm also quite interested in the Icelandic folk influence on the Hobbit.
Tom, Bert and Bill: Tomas, Vilhjalmur and Berti, I think....