The Daily Teaser — 3-1-2013: Professor Tolkien Rides Again … !

You know, I  think I really AM going to have to risk it.

And see if connecting my iPod back to my TV will work.

It started acting up, after the aerial went down, after the Saint Jude’s Day Storm, last year.

So I’m hoping having given it a rest will have helped.

The reason I mention it … ?   Is the simple that that the day’s TV — at least, going by my TV guide — looks … well … 

Uninteresting, let’s put it that way.

OK, yes, I know I could always think getting hold of a set top box.

But frankly … ?   That’s cost I don’t have, thanking you!

Let’s get a move on, shall we?

~≈Î≈~

Yesterday’s teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers: along with letting us know she felt yesterday’s tune was very punky, also say her scoring five out of five.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s Tolkienesque questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, license and video … 

Q1) 3rd January, 1892, saw the birth of writer and philologist, J. R. R. Tolkien.   What did the ‘J’ stand for … ?

Q2) Tolkien was a professor at both Pembroke and Merton College: both colleges of which British University … ?

Q3) Professor Tolkien was born in what’s now which commonwealth country … ?

Q4) In Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings, Frodo has to throw the Ring into a volcano: what’s the name of that volcano … ?

Q5) The original owner of that ring was the Lord, The Lord Of The Rings is named for.   Who WAS he … ?

Q6) Name any of the other eight characters that form The Fellowship of the Ring, with Frodo … ?

Q7) In The Lord Of The Rings, how many rings of power had the Elves been given: three, five or seven … ?

Q8) Nine rings of power given to various humans, in The Lord Of The Rings.   They turned into what: ring-goes, ring-dings or ring-wraiths … ?

Q9) Which British band named itself after Tolkien’s The Silmarillion … ?

Q10) Finally … who’s playing Bilbo Baggins in the most recent film adaptions of Tolkien’s The Hobbit … ?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 2nd January, 1911, saw the start of the Siege Of Sidney Street.   That gun battle got the UK’s then Home Secretary into a lot of trouble: who was that Home Secretary?

A1) Sir Winston Churchill.

Q2) 2nd January, 1967, saw which actor sworn in as Governor of California?

A2) Ronald Reagan.

Q3) 2nd January, 1981, saw the arrest of killer, Peter Sutcliffe: otherwise known as who … ?

A3) The Yorkshire Ripper.

Q4) 2nd January, 2011, saw the death of actor, Pete Postlethwaite.   In which 1993 film did he play Giuseppe Conlon … ?

A4) In The Name Of The Father.

Q5) Finally … 2nd January, 1914, saw the birth of wartime heroine, Noor Inayat Khan, GC.   Which wartime British agency had she been working for, when killed by the Nazis … ?

A5) The SOE, or Special Operations Executive.

I’ll leave you with this thought from Professor Tolkien … 

“I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible).”

J. R. R. Tolkien, in a letter to Deborah Webster dated 25 October 1958.

And with Bilbo’s last song: with words by Professor Tolkien, and music by

Have a good day … !

*        I suppose so, Debbi: I hadn’t really thought about it … !   (Mind you, I’m a touch old school on that front, if it doesn’t have a mohawk, or’s pogoing, it doesn’t count.)

†        And, yes: that’s Donald Swann of Flanders and Swann fame: possibly the only duo to put gnus to music …