J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE FRSL ( 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Links To Peel
Peel was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's work in the late 60's and remarked on his 08 May 1968 show that he would like to have Tolkien, then a cult figure among the hippies, as a regular guest on the programme after he played "A Elbereth Gilthoniel", which was an Elvish (made up language) poem read by J.R.R. Tolkien himself, that was available on an LP called Poems And Songs Of Middle Earth.

A tape of a 1968 Pentangle session track has Peel saying "Thank you, nice Pentangle....may the hair on your toes never grow less", a greeting borrowed from the works of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In 1995 Peel presented a Star Trek themed programme called Funk Me Up, Scotty, which looked through the musical careers of the actors, including Leonard Nimoy, who did a song called 'Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins', that was broadcast on the show. Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, as well as a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings. In Tolkien's narrative conceit, in which all the writings of Middle-earth are translations from the fictitious volume of The Red Book of Westmarch, Bilbo is the author of The Hobbit and translator of various "works from the elvish" (as mentioned in the end of The Return of the King).

Shows Played
1968
 * 08 May 1968: A Elbereth Gilthoniel (poem - a very short recording)