The Lord of the Rings: toughest quiz ever, from John Garth

[vivdunstan]

I'm honestly happy with getting 14/30 on this one.

Link here.

Comments

[greenwoodside]

I didn't count, but think I got roughly the same as you. Having listened to the Rob Inglis audiobooks while painting a couple of rooms this January helped. Plus, some things I could guess -- for example, Denethor wouldn't be the kind of guy to have an appealing eisteddfod-style wooden throne. (I think wooden objects typically connote warmth, homeliness and sincerity, especially in the work of someone like Tolkien). I knew it had to be something more bleak -- metal or, as it proved to be, stone.

[vivdunstan]

I'm a bit annoyed that I've forgotten so many details, though I reread LOTR every few years. But happy just to get anything right to be honest! And still in love with the books. We also plan a rewatch of the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy (the Hobbit is atrocious for us) when I have enough awake time. We haven't managed to find enough awake time yet ...

[watervole]

My granddaughter enjoyed reading the Hobbit. I've warned her away from the Hobbit movie, apart from the bits in the Shire near the start, which are really well done.

[vivdunstan]

We made it through the first movie with some squirming. I liked Radagast! The second movie was even more painful though. And we haven't been able to bring ourselves to watch the third movie. This story definitely didn't need stretching to three movies.

[watervole]

Definitely a good decision. The third had little to recommend it. Though the giant golden dwarf was the rock bottom moment.

[vivdunstan]

Ok my curiousity was piqued! Luckily a quick Google finds me a pic - eek! - with no need to watch any more of the movie.

[watervole]

I'm glad to have saved you three hours of your life. :)

[vivdunstan]

Appreciated!

[greenwoodside]

LotR and Tolkien is something I always loop back to. It takes me by surprise sometimes. I remember doing a contract in Birmingham while not in a Tolkien phase, and then one morning it snowed, and changed the way everything looked, so that a little area of gently sloping parkland and unremarkable suburban houses said all at once 'Ah yes, we are the Shire, you know.' And there was a van near work selling baked taters, and of course also Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog and the Lickey Hills and so on.

For me the adaptation of my heart -- because listened to when very young, on thirteen casettes, stored in a beautiful box -- is the BBC Radio version, even if it sometimes feels a little sadder now at the end, since so many of the cast (and the composer, lost to AIDS far too young) are no longer with us.

[vivdunstan]

I haven't listened to the BBC LOTR for some years. We need to dig it out again. We have it digitally, as well as on CD. Both my husband - in Somerset - and me - in the Scottish Borders - listened to it at a very young age as youngsters on the radio back then.

[vivdunstan]

I heard it first on radio, but also had the cassettes version for many years. I sold that some time ago, and now have the CDs and a digital version for convenience that we can play on our telly.

[andrewducker]

18!

At least one lucky guess though.

[vivdunstan]

Well done! Lucky guesses are fine :)

[watervole]

I managed 16. Some interesting clues.

[vivdunstan]

It felt more approachable than the quizzes that I usually see as part of the annual Oxonmoot for the Tolkien Society. Which I've been attending online since the pandemic started. This one was less about obscure facts and at least had some good clues.

[watervole]

I was rather chuffed at knowing on of the more obscure ones. I've actually read Donald Swann's book with his musical settings. Mostly because I absolutely loved Flanders and Swann.

[vivdunstan]

My husband has a very fond spot for Flanders and Swann, mainly from picked up on the radio when he was young. His family didn't have a telly when he was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, so it was the radio.

[watervole]

First record I ever bought was 'At the Drop of Another Hat'. Mainly because it had the Hippopotamus song on it.

Later I got them on tape, then CD...

I know a fair number of their songs off by heart.

[vivdunstan]

Just mentioned this to Martin. He mainly appreciated F&S as a youngster because his dad had an album played a lot :)