Cast members from The Lord of the Rings movies have reunited to save the home where J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his masterpieces, including The Hobbit. The author’s former-residence at 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford, England, will be put on the open market in a few months, which is why Project Northmoor has started a fundraising campaign to raise $6 million and turn the house into a literary center dedicated to Tolkien’s work.
The campaign has the support of actors John Rhys-Davies, Martin Freeman, and Sir Ian McKellen, who said in a statement, “We cannot achieve this without the support of the worldwide community of Tolkien fans, our fellowship of funders.” Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, added, “If people are still reading in 1,000 years, Tolkien will be regarded as one of the great myth-makers of Britain and it will be evident within a matter of years that not to secure this place would have been such an act of arrogance and ignorance and folly on our part.” He added that the goal is to turn the home “into a literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers for many years to come.”
Tolkien and his family moved into the home in the 1930s while he worked as a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the nearby University of Oxford, and remained in the home for the next 17 years. It is during this time that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and also hosted fellow fantasy writing legend C.S. Lewis. (Via)
The donations are tiered by Hobbit Gifts, Dwarf Gifts, Human Gifts, Elf Gifts, Wizard Gifts, and Valar Gifts. But an ent-sized gift would be most appreciated.
Unlike other writers of his stature, there is no centre devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien anywhere in the world. Yet. @ProjNorthmoor https://t.co/pzMg8Yk2t2 pic.twitter.com/jx2r5MVbcw
— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) December 2, 2020
(Via People)