The Lord of the Rings (TRIH ep 226)
1954 · Resource
Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (the episode is the second on Tolkien). They trace Tolkien's sources—Old Norse, Finnish and Anglo‑Saxon literature and imperial adventure fiction (H. Rider Haggard)—and explain the collision of the modern English domestic hobbit with archaic mythic elements. The conversation situates Tolkien in the twentieth century: the trauma of World War I, the moral dilemmas of World War II (including aer...
On these timelines: The Rest Is History (podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 1954
- Indian independence and Partition (1947)
- The Beatles (1960)
- Founding of the State of Israel (1948)
- Cold War (1947)
- Korean War (1950)
- D-Day (Operation Overlord) (1944)
- Pop music: the 1960s (1960)
- Pop music: the 1950s (1950)
- United Nations founded (1945)
- People's Republic of China founded (1949)