TIMECODE ‘Not all who wander are lost: the rescue of “Tolkien in Oxford”‘

Patrick O’Sullivan

‘Not all who wander are lost: the rescue of “Tolkien in Oxford”‘

Wednesday 28th October, 6pm

John Stanley Bell lecture theatre, Richmond Building, University of Bradford

In this talk Patrick O’Sullivan will discuss the rescue of the 1968 BBC film Tolkien in Oxford (1968). Tolkien in Oxford, directed by Leslie Megahey, was filmed in February 1968 and broadcast in March 1968 as part of a magazine programme called ‘Release’. The subsequent history of the film was confused by the fact that the BBC’s own version of the film was incomplete, and its own information was incomplete. In 2013 Patrick O’Sullivan was a part of the processes that led to the creation of a restored and complete version of the film.

A screening of the 26-minute restored 1968 film will be preceded by Patrick O’Sullivan’s account of the making of the film. He looks at TV and film technologies and their limitations, the subsequent career of Leslie Megahey and his importance in the development of British arts documentary. He will
also look at the history since of Tolkien in Oxford, and its problematic place in Tolkien Studies generally.

For more background see a discussion between Dr Stuart Lee and film and TV director Leslie Megahey on the BBC’s 1968 documentary, ‘Tolkien in Oxford’, given at a day-long
symposium that focused on aspects of Tolkien’s academic and literary work and life in Oxford:

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/tolkien-oxford-bbc-1968

Patrick O’Sullivan is a writer and researcher based in Bradford. He is a Visiting Scholar, Glucksman Ireland House, New York University. Much of his work in the development of Irish Diaspora Studies is visible on his archive site:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ooj5btdttc9y4/Documents

For more information contact: Mark Goodall (m.goodall@bradford.ac.uk) Tel +44 (0)1274 236071

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