The 6 Degrees of J.R.R. Tolkien
The works of Tolkien and Middle Earth have influenced millions around the globe. But what of the man himself, can we all trace our personal connection back to the beloved author?
Abode Stock by Anastasiya
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J.R.R. Tolkien’s influence reaches far and wide. Often called the father of modern fantasy, his writings in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have inspired generations. Almost everything in the contemporary fantasy genre can trace back to influences from his works. And the characters and creatures that inhabit Middle Earth are seen across modern movies, literature, tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, and video games. But what of the man himself?
Six degrees of separation is a concept originally created in 1929. The premise is that all people are linked by connecting a series of interactions, such as a friend of a friend, work colleagues, or other social connections. It became popular in the 1990s with the game The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. What about J.R.R. Tolkien himself? How far does his personal influence stretch?
I asked readers to send in suggestions of people and characters to test this theory. They most certainly did not disappoint! The list covers a wide range from politicians to movie stars to even the world’s most famous Muppet. So here are the 6 degrees of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Early Life of J.R.R. Tolkien
Much of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s early life was filled with tragedy. He was born in what is now the Republic of South Africa in January 1892. When he was four, his father passed from rheumatic fever, and the family moved to England. But only a few years later, he lost his mother as well, leaving Ronald and his brother in the care of Father Francis Xavier Morgan to see to their care and upbringing.
Though having a difficult childhood, J.R.R. Tolkien was a competent student and highly gifted with languages. He loved reading the fantasy stories of George MacDonald and Andrew Lang and enjoyed creating new alphabets and languages. And as a teen, he and three friends started the semi-secret Tea Club and Barrovian Society named after their secret meetings in the Barrow stores and the library.
“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Bratt, in 1916. But his happiness was short-lived, and he was shipped out to France to fight in World War I. He eventually found himself in Somme in 1916 but suffered a bad case of trench fever. Due to the illness, he was sent back to England and never recovered sufficiently to return to the Front. While he survived the war, his battalion suffered major causalities back in France. All but one of his friends from Tea Club and Barrovian Society were killed in action. Much of his work is heavily influenced by his experiences in the war.
In 1920, he took a position to teach English Language at the University of Leeds. There he collaborated with E.V. Gordon on the translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And in 1925, he was granted the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. At Oxford, he started a new society of friends called the Inklings that would result in lifelong friendships.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song over hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
The Inklings
Founded by Tolkien and his very close friend, C.S. Lewis, the Inklings met between the early 1930s to 1949. Members included Oxford professors students but were also open to those from the non-academic world. They regularly met to drink, converse, share their works and read stories and letters to one another. The group found their home in the private room of CS Lewis at Magdalen College and later at local pubs.
C.S. Lewis
A close friend and co-founder of the Inklings, C.S. Lewis, is himself a fantasy great. Known for his works The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, and The Space Trilogy, Lewis wrote more than 30 books in his career. Though the two frequently squabbled and were often seen as literary rivals, they supported each other through their careers. Their friendship is documented in the book Tolkien and CS Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez.
“Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”
- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
As a famous author in his own right, Lewis was often featured in the press and interviewed about his work. One of these was conducted by a British journalist, Alistair Cooke. Getting his start on the BBC, Cooke moved to CBS in 1952 to host a brand-new series dedicated to the arts. The show, one of the first of its kind, called Omnibus, featured performances and interviews from leaders in arts, science, and humanities. Guests included Orson Wells, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Leonard Bernstein. But the show also included newcomers, giving them a chance for a big break. One was the young comedian Jonathan Winters in 1957.
Winters went on to record many comedy albums and was a frequent character on The Dean Martin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He went on to star in over 50 movies and television shows, including The Muppet Show and Mork & Mindy.
Mork & Mindy was about an alien and human roommate, starring Pam Dawber and Robin Williams. Winters was one of Williams’ idols and played their child in the show’s last season. “
“A friend is someone who listens to your bullshit, tells you that it's bullshit, and listens some more.”
- Robin Williams
Jack A. W. Bennett
A member of Tolkien’s Inklings, Jack A. W. Bennett, was an Oxford student originally from Auckland, New Zealand. Prior to attending the university, Bennett attended the Mount Albert Grammar School. He wrote the school’s hymn, which students have sung ever since.
One of the students was Chris Liddell who attended in the 1960s. He went on to become very successful and was the Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft, The Vice Chairman of General Motors, the Senior Vice President and CFO of International Paper, and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff under Donald Trump. Chris Liddell directly for Bill Gates at Microsoft and for President Donald Trump.
“Make some good friends, keep them for the rest of your life, but have them be people that you admire as well as like.”
- Bill Gates
As well as being a member of the Inklings, Jack Bennet was also a member of a group of students from New Zealand jokingly called the New Zealand Mafia. This group remain close for the remainder of his life and included several authors. One of which was James Munro Bertram.
Bertram was a Rhodes Scholar that went on to become an international correspondent with The Times. In 1936, Bertram went to China to work on several Asian commissions. He attended Yenching University to study Chinese. While at the university, he became friends with journalism teacher Edgar Snow and was roomed with Huang Hua.
Huang Hua would go on to become the foreign minister of the People’s Republic of China from 1976 to 1982. Hua would later meet Henry Kissinger as part of reopening relations with the US in 1974. Kissenger, Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford, continued to be heavily involved in foreign affairs after leaving office in 1976. President George W. Bush appointed him to chair the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States after 9/11.
After his term as president, Bush went on to have a very close and friendly relationship with his successor, the 44th President, Barack Obama, and his wife, Michele.
“We will stand with our friends of the world.”
- George W. Bush
“One gift I do seem to have is getting really, really good friends around me who’ve got my back... That gives you a certain serenity in the midst of a lot of foolishness.”
- Barack Obama
Meanwhile, the journalism teacher that Bertram met at Yenching University would become his lifelong friend. Edgar Snow interviewed many Chinese leaders during his career as a journalist. One of which was Chairman Mao. Mao Zedong served as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party until 1976.
Under Mao’s leadership, Xi Zhongxum served him as the chief of the party’s propaganda and education policies. Zhongzum had a rocky career at times, including imprisonment. But he was elected as the deputy chair of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in 1981. Following in his father’s footsteps, his son, Xi Jinping, also took up a political career. Though far surpassing his father, Jinping became the President of China in 2013.
“We need to pass on our friendship from generation to generation and always be good neighbors living in harmony.”
- Xi Jinping
Nevill Coghill
Another member of Tolkien’s Inklings was Nevill Coghill. Coghill was a theatrical producer and director at Oxford during his time with the group and was later appointed a Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford from 1957 to 1966. He is best known for his English version of The Canterbury Tales. In 1968, Coghill collaborated with Martin Starkie to write the musical version of his famous book.
Canterbury Tales, the musical, received four Tony nominations and played on both the West-End and Broadway. The American version was presented in 1969 by Frank Loesser, Jerry Weintraub, and Martin Kummer. One of these presenters, Jerry Weintraub, started his successful career as a talent agent and tour manager the following year. The first client that he grew to fame was the then-newcomer John Denver.
John Denver found great success as a singer and songwriter but is also known for his acting and activism. One of his most famous songs, Take Me Home, Country Roads, was later used in the video game Fallout 76. At the peak of his popularity, Denver starred in the tv special John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. The show included many solo and group performances between Denver and the cast of the Muppets, including “The Christmas Wish” by Kermit the Frog.
“There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.”
- Kermit The Frog, The Muppet Movie
As well as being the talent agent for Denver, Jerry Weintraub managed the tours of several other stars, including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Four Seasons, and Led Zeppelin. With his success, Weintraub moved from managing concerts to producing films. His movies include Nashville, The Karate Kid, and Ocean’s Eleven. The last of which starred Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Matt Damon, and George Clooney.
“(My friends) helped me when I needed help over the years. And I've helped them over the years. We're all good friends. And I thought, you know, without them I don't have any of this.”
- George Clooney
Robert Havard
Robert Havard was invited to the Inklings by C.S. Lewis. As a doctor, the group sometimes amusingly called him the “Useless Quack.” An abbreviation of U.O. and the nickname Humphrey that the group assigned him, stayed with him for years. Though it was a lovingly told joke and Dr. Havard treated both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as their sometimes physician. Later Lewis entrusted Havard with the medical care of his stepsons.
Lewis had two stepsons, Douglas, and David Gresham who he raised following the death of their mother in 1960. Douglas Gresham wrote his autobiography called Lenten Lands about his youth with Lewis. This book was later made into the 1993 film Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, and Joseph Francis Mazzello III as the young Douglas.
As an actor, Mazzello was well known for his role as Tim Murphy in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Spielberg was such a fan of the young boy, that he even submitted a recommendation letter for Mazzello’s attendance at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
However, prior to working with Spielberg, Mazzello got his first role as a lessor part in Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford. While a popular film for Ford, it did not compare to his huge successes as Indiana Jones and Han Solo in Star Wars.
“You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!”
- Han Solo
The Inklings included several other would-be-famous literary figures, including Owen Barfield, Lord David Cecil, and Charles Williams. Tolkien remains friends with many of them for the remainder of his life.
The Lord of the Rings
While at Oxford, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and the first two books of The Lord of the Rings. He became the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature in 1945 until retirement in 1959. And he completed the final book in his Middle Earth trilogy in 1948.
After retirement, his fame as a writer increased, and he was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961 (nominated by his friend, Lewis). But the fan attention became too great, and he and his wife moved away from Oxford to the quieter town of Bournemouth. While it was a private and peaceful living, Tolkien missed the company of his friends back in Oxford.
Fan Mail
Post-retirement, he continued to write, writing Middle Earth-inspired and other stories. He did not appreciate his cult-like status though he would often respond to interesting correspondence from fans. One such letter that he received in 1967 was from a young man working as an apprentice writer. The letter caught Tolkien’s attention because instead of praising The Lord of the Rings series, it was about his newest book, Smith of Wooton Major. The letter writer even suggested that it was his favorite book.
Tolkien wrote back to this aspiring author, the nineteen-year-old Terry Pratchett. A few years later, Pratchett published his own novel, The Carpet People. Pratchett went on to find great fame of his own as a fantasy writer with his Discworld series. However, that original letter from Tolkien continued to be a prized possession and was even part of the display as part Terry Pratchett: Hisworld at the Salisbury Museum in 2017.
Pratchett had a diverse repertoire of work from his writings. These included several Discworld-inspired movies, even working on dialogue for the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skryim.
One of his most successful collaborations was with Neil Gaiman. Together they wrote Good Omens in 1990. A major hit, the book was adapted to radio, theatre, and television. The most recent was the series on Amazon Prime in 2019.
The Amazon version of Good Omens started Michael Sheen and David Tennant as the angel and demon living on Earth. Jon Hamm played Archangel Gabriel, and his opposition Satan was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.
“Metaphorically speaking, it’s easy to bump into one another on the journey from A to B and not even notice. People should take time to notice, enjoy and help each other.”
― Benedict Cumberbatch
Pratchett's co-writer, Neil Gaiman, is himself an outstanding author. His best-known works include Coraline, American Gods, and Stardust, among many others, winning him several awards. This includes six Nebula Awards presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America between 2000 and 2019.
In 2011, he won for an episode of Doctor Who written by Gaiman and directed by Richard Clark. The most notable of the SFWA awards, the Damon Knight Grand Master Award, was presented to author Connie Willis.
Willis' work spans more than 20 books and includes Dooms Day Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and All Clear. She frequently uses a futurist University of Oxford, for her stories on time travel.
"It's no wonder they call you man's best friend. Faithful and loyal and true, you share in our sorrows and rejoice with us in our triumphs, the truest friend we ever have known, a better friend than we deserve.”
- Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
As well as Pratchett, Neil Gaiman has collaborated with several creators during his career. He worked with Dave McKean on several comics and DC Comics hired Gaiman to write The Sandman series from 1989 to 1996. Gaiman also wrote for DC on the Secret Origins series, The Books of Magic, and Batman as well as for Marvel Comics for the limited series, The Eternals in 2003.
Due to his work on comics, Gaiman has been a frequent presenter at Comic Cons. And through their shared stage, he became good friends with the man that he fondly called "Smilin’ Stan Lee.” Lee was a huge name in Marvel Comics and the creator of many characters such as Spider-Men, Iron Man, Thor, and the X-Men.
While he did not create the original Captain America character, Lee helped to revive Cap in 1964 as a member of The Avengers. In an interesting connection, the same year that Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis won their respective Nebula Awards in 2011, the film Captain America: The First Avenger was an SFWA nominee for the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award.
“Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re going to win.”
- Steve Rogers, Captain America
On a personal note, several years ago my mother had the pleasure of meeting Peter David at a convention. David is a successful writer for Marvel working on titles such as The Incredible Hulk and the Fantastic Four. Through this connection, I can trace back my very own connection to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Meeting the Queen
After the death of his wife, Tolkien moved back to Oxford in 1971. The following year, he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Order was received at Buckingham Palace in March and given to him by Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth II has a long history of meeting celebrities as the oldest reigning monarch. In 2009, she hosted the Royal Variety Performance in December. As performers, hosts also had the opportunity to meet the Queen. The 2009 artists included Miley Cyrus, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Buble, Bette Midler, and Lady Gaga.
“Friendship is only friendship when it is real. Passionate and relentless. Forgiving and joyful. Don't forget today to have real moments with your friends.”
- Lady Gaga
While appreciative of the modern arts, Queen Elizabeth II was raised on fantasy stories. As a young girl, Elizabeth and her sister enjoyed stories told to them by J.M. Barrie. The then three-year-old Princess Margaret had so much fun that she said that “(Barrie) is my greatest friend and I am his greatest friend.”
While reading stories to the young princesses as a senior gentleman, the Peter Pan author had a much more boisterous youth. Barrie and his fellow lost boys formed an amateur cricket team in 1890. The players were more about having fun than succeeding on the field. Calling themselves the Allahakbarries, their stories of antics such as showing up in pajamas to Barrie collecting the ball while it was still in play overshadowed any of victory. One member even wrote, “There were many whimsical happenings, which were good fun if they were not good cricket.”
That quote was written by Allahakbarries member Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, who was only one of the many would-be literary greats that played on Barrie’s team. Other members included J.R. Kipling, H.G. Wells, G.K. Chesteron, Walter Raleigh, and A.A. Milne. Together, their future works would include The Jungle Book, War of the Worlds, and Milton: Man and Poet, and have such famous characters as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, and Winnie the Pooh.
Though a generation before him, Barrie’s team of fun-loving future writers would not be so different than Tolkien’s beloved Inklings.
“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside."
- Winnie the Pooh
Passing
J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973 and is buried with his wife in Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford. His legacy can be found far and wide. Whole dissertations have been written on the extent of this influence in popular culture. From books, movies, video games, even TTRPGs, the stories of Middle Earth and his fantasy realms have reached almost everyone. But it is his personal legacy of friendships that is real connection to us all.
“But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends”
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Author:
Laurie Trueblood is a writer and life coach that enjoys fantasy, science, psychology, and everything nerdy. As the founder of Adventures to Authenticity, her mission is to help others level up and become the best versions of themselves.
