The One hundred and forty-seventh Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

July 26, 2014. Laocoon (Abre numa nova janela), one of Tolkien's favourite trees, lost two limbs. Subsequently, the Oxford Botanic Garden decided that the tree must be felled for safety reasons (Abre numa nova janela). [thetolkienist.com (Abre numa nova janela)]
July 27, 1972. Tolkien writes a certificate of authenticity (Abre numa nova janela) for the sale of his desk (Abre numa nova janela).
July 28, 1939. Tolkien performs Chaucer (Abre numa nova janela)'s The Reeve's Tale (Abre numa nova janela) at the 'Summer Diversions' - a festival of recitals, plays and ballet.
July 29, 1938. E.V. Gordon (Abre numa nova janela), a later colleague of Tolkien, dies.
July 30, 1955. Tolkien goes to Italy with Priscilla Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela).
July 31, 1969. Tolkien writes Letter 311 (Abre numa nova janela), concerned with his health.
August 1, 1917. Tolkien writes Letter 128 (Abre numa nova janela), on changing The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela), the continuance of the feud.

Tolkien fans reassured over cracks in statue (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC]

Events & Shows

I have to admit I would never have expected UK football legend Wayne Rooney and ‘Lord of the Rings’ in the same sentence but here we go:
Wayne and Coleen Rooney made heroes of Lord of the Rings spoof (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC | trailer (Abre numa nova janela), Youtube | Legend of Rooney’s Ring (Abre numa nova janela), Liverpool Royal Court Theatre; started July 18]

Glorfyndels has the Tolkien Fandom Event Calendar 2025 (Abre numa nova janela)¹ [tumblr]

Mónica Sanz Rodríguez² [Spanish Tolkien Society] will be talking about Tolkien and the First World War (Abre numa nova janela) at Biblioteca Pública de Maó, Menorca. [July 29]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Abre numa nova janela) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship & Fandom

doubtfulsea has King Returns and Tax Returns? (Abre numa nova janela)

Marie Bretagnolle has A Princess illustrates The Lord of the Rings: Ingahild Grathmer, Eric Fraser and the Folio Society — Oxonmoot 2022 (Abre numa nova janela).

The “Diary of a City Guard” has reached part 16 (Abre numa nova janela).

Andrew Higgins has O Naffarinos!!! (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Adam Roberts has Goblins! (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “Night Always Had Been, and Always Would Be, And Night Was All.” Frodo and Sam Enter Shelob’s Lair. The Dark Journeys of The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela).

Merchandise & Franchise

The Tolkien Library (Abre numa nova janela) is moving to Norway. [Tolkien Guide]

Dutch Fairy Tale Park with Hobbit Houses? (Abre numa nova janela) [In Dutch]

Inter alia

How Chuck Tingle Went Legit (Abre numa nova janela) [Slate]

Lewis & Tolkien Graphic Novel ‘Mythmakers’ to Receive Big-Screen Animated Adaptation (Abre numa nova janela) [Narniaweb]

What losing the Rivers of America will mean to Walt Disney World (Abre numa nova janela)³ [Youtube]

Existential Comics wins this comics’ week with Gollum, his riddles, and German philosopher Rudolf Carnap (Abre numa nova janela).
Fun Fact Carnap went to Jena University; Jena is the city I live in.

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

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According to German law I have to inform you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

As this is 2025 I would like to note that this newsletter is 100% human-made, curated by me, Marcel R. Bülles. This also holds true for everything I write with my blog and here at Steady. Also, the average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.

1. h/t Emerald (Abre numa nova janela) [Bluesky] ↩

2. Transparency note Mónica is a good friend of mine, a well-respected Tolkien scholar and translator from Spain. ↩

3. h/t File 770 (Abre numa nova janela). ↩