I must say that I found this interview quite fascinating and a very eloquent conversation. I loved hearing such rich English. Comparing this interview to today's I much rather watch or hear an interview of 1964 than today in 2024. Beautiful conversation. I can see how even today's English language has lost it's finest and respectfulness.

I find both of them extremely irritating ..

Its more an lnterogation than an lnterview .

Great great great questions. I understand so much more about one of my favorite artists now.😊

Amazed and delighted to come across this on KZbin. Than you for posting.

Sounds exactly like Slughorn from Harry Potter 😂

These are one of the few sets of books that you can read over and over again and never be bored, and almost always find new surprises.

Most people will never understand fantasy writers because in our heads it's not fantasy...it's extremely real..

And I didn't shoot him!!

I see you can buy the book Fly Fishing now!!

I wish I could get hold of a transcript of this.

Who else had a short giggle when both them chumbs lit on their pipes? Had a feeling of sitting in the shire. 😂

Tolkien is to Literature GM as Fischer is to Chess GM

J. R. R. Tolkien sounds like one of the characters of his books.

He had a very advance theory of memory for the time

1. The interviewer is remarkable, cultured and passionnate about Mr Tolkien's work of art. An interviewer that's respectable as we would like them to be always. 2. Though the triology of the Lord of the Rings isn't 100% canon, from Tolkien's sayings, you can tell Peter Jackson did a good job in accordance with the work. 3. The humility embodied by Master Tolkien is the last words of this interview make him an even greater being. (Maybe he's a Valar , after all...) Let's be greatful for his work of art, may he rest peacefully.

Quite amazing and a great interview. A very brilliant man. He was always clear about writing a “credible history”.

Gotta love the occasional pipe puffing and match striking during the interesting conversation, but now I require a reading of the transcription 😅

How ever much he intellectualises his ‘method’ it’s clear that immersion into the world of Norse mythology and old English and scandinavian prose predetermined the nature of his invented world. Similarly JKRowling’s childhood reading of Tolkien and Dickens predetermined Hogwarts. But I’m grateful to have read the hobbit and LOTR without any foreknowledge of Norse mythology and decades before the movies, as much as I’m resolved never to read a word of Rowling.

“Do you, in fact, yourself believe in some form of governing spirit?……… are you in fact a theist?” Tolkien thinking back in the battle of the Somme

I think it’s a hindsight issue. This interviewer was trained to not allow much time of silence and did so on radio. Now, we know that tolkiens silence and thought should be left alone and not covered over

When journalists werent complete idiots, knew what they were talking about and respected the interviewed. How the West has fallen...

Can see why Britain was great once

This is an interview that deserves several listenings. Thank you for posting this.

Wonderful to have This pop up on KZbin. What an absolute Gift 🧝‍♂️🧝‍♀️❤

He read thorabtalmud coran and all the eschatology books

Is bearable listing to the interviewer badger the author without getting anything of substance or nuance for the listener. Sounds like he’s having some ego battle of intellect trying to show how clever he is by trying to trap the author. And the people who like the interviewer are the kind of insufferable people in real life that make the world a miserable place to live.

6:48 Well damn. That was an enlightening statement made by Tolkien, describing how his move from South Africa to England at the age of 3 1/2 was poignant in his development and outlook on the world. Most kids grow up seeing the same things so their minds aren't often tested. The image Tolkien paints of photographing the same meal and only noticing slight changes each time as opposed to a child having a sudden breakthrough due to their drastic environmental/cultural change will have a lasting impact on that child. I myself had a troubled childhood littered with instability however I have always maintained a similar view as Tolkien in that without my experiences I would be ignorant to the real world and the varying natures that exist within it. Tolkien has a way with words unlike anyone I have ever listened to and his insight into life is second to none.

Possibly the most British converation ever

Come on Tolkien, tell us all the source material you plagiarised from. Being a freemason I highly suspect he barely created anything, merely the face and role of one to he credited for the past archives of a world within this.

Just extraordinary. I was totally transported into his mind. Fascinating.

Tolkien died 1973. 1 ring to rule them all. 9 rings for human kings 7 rings to dwarf Lords 3 rings created by elven kings. Excellent timing prof. Tolkien!

Y’all wish he was your grandpa!

You’d think he lived seasonally in Morocco and Tibet/Nepal

I feel so close to his personality after listening to this, as if he still alive and this have been taken yesterday. HArdly to believe this great mind is long gone now and we wont see anything about the 4th age :( :( :(

Chuckled when he paused to smoke a pipe

LoTR is UK. How peacful and happy the peoples were before the orcs invaded the west.

The interviewer is so basic. Scripted interview nothing actually explored

He’s a real Englishman love his voice

Middle earth as in Middle Ages

Good interview, by a good interviewer.

I was today years old when I learned that Tolkien was actually an African.

The interviewer is a product of his time. Progressively more idiotic.

Too painful to listen to. Where did the BBC find them?

Barfields boy

Interesting observation re the absence of character supplication to any divine being within the LOTR but acknowledged within the wider mythology. The outcomes are dictated by mere character action or inaction.

I was particularly struck buy the "Guilt" question and just thought of the impact his work is still having in 2024. I watch people online respond to the films with awe & tears! The books sales have been phenomenal for a reason. Be true to your own vision.

I believe J.R.R. Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_ was likely hugely inspired by Richard Wagner's _Der Ring des Nibelungen_ . There are so many notable similarities.

Notice the pronunciation of 'Sauron' here 😄

Interviewer was very confrontational. Tolkein could have employed him as a critic, to help him write for the most hostile.