I have gathered and tidied this information, below, about
the forthcoming Archive on 4 programme on BBC Radio 4, about the 1968 Leslie
Megahey BBC film, 'Tolkien in Oxford'.
This Archive on 4 is an Overtone Productions Ltd. Programme for the BBC...
Regular readers will know that
a number of us, led by Leslie Megahey, have worked to restore and mend the
film, and to explore its place in Tolkien Studies. My colleague, Dr. Stuart Lee, Oxford, is
writing the academic article about the film and the background, and - as can be
seen - he is a lead player in the Archive on 4 programme. So, as regards this project, the work is
done...
There is a delightful symmetry in bringing Joss Ackland
into this project - I have remarked before on what a lovely job he did on the
readings in the original 1968 film.
One
ring to rule them all...
Patrick O'Sullivan
Glucksman Ireland House, New York University http://irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/page/faculty
Tolkien - the Lost Recordings
Archive on 4
6 August 2016
8pm BBC Radio 4
Joss Ackland narrates a quest through BBC archives for
unheard gems from JRR Tolkien, as Oxford Academic, Dr Stuart Lee, discovers the
un-broadcast offcuts from an interview given by the author of the Lord of the
Rings.
Tolkien gave the interview for a BBC film in 1968, but
only a tiny part of it was used in the broadcast programme. It was one of only
a handful of recorded interviews he gave, and was to be his last. Dr Lee’s
search for the un-broadcast rushes takes him to the depths of the BBC film
archives, and back to the making of the original film: ‘Tolkien in Oxford.’
For the director, Lesley Megahey, only 23 at the time,
this was his first film, and the one that launched a prestigious career. The
programme reunites him with three others: researcher, Patrick O’Sullivan;
Tolkien fan, Michael Hebbert - and critic Valentine Cunningham, who describes
how he was brought in to be the voice of dissent challenging the burgeoning
Tolkien cult spreading from America.
What emerges is a picture of a playful academic, whose
fiction was little respected by adults at the time and looked down on as a
lesser form of literature. But he is robustly defended by Professor Tom Shippey
and remembered fondly by his colleague Dr Roger Highfield.
Stuart Lee presents the results of his search through the
archives to Dr Dimitra Fimi who considers any new words from Tolkien’s mouth as
‘gold’. While, for Dr Lee, the real ‘dragon’s hoard’ is the privilege of
hearing Tolkien in relaxed mode reflecting on his life as never before.
