
Listen to rare recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’ - itbeho
http://aleteia.org/2017/03/25/listen-to-rare-recordings-of-j-r-r-tolkien-reading-lord-of-the-rings/
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mavhc
[https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/15/j-r-r-tolkien-
reads...](https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/15/j-r-r-tolkien-reads-from-
lotr/) is the real url

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bencollier49
Speaking as a modern Brit, it seems that Edwardian English is fast becoming
indecipherable. I certainly needed to shift gear to get all the words. I
wonder how many generations it will take before people are unable to recognise
what he's saying?

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simonh
I think some of the phrasing is mimicking Old English pronunciation. Combined
with his natural 'posh' accent and the poor quality of the recording it does
make it a little hard to make some of it out.

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bshimmin
Yeah; I didn't have trouble with it particularly, but two things I noted:

1) He has a very strong trill to his rhotic "r", which I think _must_ be put
on for effect.

2) Does he have a slightly South African accent? I think he left South Africa
at a young age (three, maybe?) so it seems odd that he still would at 60, but
I'm not sure.

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bencollier49
Yes, I wasn't sure about the rolled r. I could certainly make it out once I
had shifted gear, but I have extremely received pronunciation myself; I wonder
what someone with a more modern ear would make of it.

