“Lord of the Rings” Supports Efforts to Help Buy JRR Tolkien’s Former Home



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Several ‘Lord of the Rings’ cast, including Sir Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies and Martin Freeman, are joining forces in an effort to help buy the former home of famous author JRR Tolkien.

The goal, organized by Project Northmoor, is to buy Tolkien’s old house and turn it into a literary center dedicated to his works. British author Julia Golding was granted a three-month window to buy the house from its current owners before it was put on the open market, the group said in a press release. The fundraising target for the project is £ 4.5m, or $ 6m, which the project said it will use to “promote Tolkien’s work, enable a wide range of Fantastic writers and artists come together to write, learn and create and preserve the fascinating house for future generations. ”

Project Northmoor, named after the street where the house is located, on Wednesday released a video featuring McKellen, who played Gandalf in the films “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”; Freeman, who took on the role of Bilbo Baggins in the “The Hobbit” trilogy; Rhys-Davis and several Tolkien academics to promote his fundraising efforts.

“Incredibly, given his importance, there is no center devoted to Tolkien anywhere in the world,” said John Rhys-Davies, the actor who played the dwarf Gimli and voiced Treebeard the ent in film adaptations of Peter Jackson’s books, in a press release. . “The vision is to make Tolkien’s house a literary center that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers for many years to come.”

Golding, an award-winning UK author who is leading the project, told CBS News: “We’ve had an incredible response since we launched just a few hours ago.”

“Tolkien is posting a wave of what I can only call love and many people give multiple times to make sure the names of their loved ones are in our donor red book,” she said. added.

Joseph Loconte, author of “A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War” and an academic featured in the video, told CBS News: “We have a remarkable opportunity to preserve this haven of creativity where Tolkien produced his epic tale. of the struggle. for Middle-earth. Home can become a place where writers and artists, like Tolkien, can find refuge to create works of moral beauty. “

The house, an hour’s drive from London, has remained virtually unchanged since it was built in 1924. Tolkien and his family moved there in 1930 while working as a professor at the University of Oxford. During the 17 years that Tolkien and his family lived in Northmoor, the author wrote his most famous works, the trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”. Tolkien also entertained many guests at the house, a number of whom were influential writers themselves, such as “The Chronicles of Narnia” author CS Lewis.

Tolkien fans who wish to support Project Northmoor can donate now. The fundraiser will run until March 15, 2021.



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