A twist in Tolkien's tale

Budding actors from St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, performed their own adaptation of the book at the Warner Village Cinemas, Capitol Centre, Preston, to explain the inspiration that Tolkien received when he penned it while staying at Stonyhurst College.

It follows a 'dispute' between the Ribble Valley and Birmingham over where inspiration for Tolkien's map of Middle Earth and work actually came from.

Jonathan Hewat, a teacher at St Mary's Hall, said: "We don't believe that one place can lay claim to Tolkien himself. We know he was brought up in Birmingham, but hated city life and moved to Oxford to become a scholar.

"There should be no dispute as there is clear evidence of how the Ribble Valley inspired him.

"The film may have been shot in New Zealand and financed by an American company, but its good to take it back to its roots."

The children performed their short play just before the preview of the film, which opened on general release on Wednesday. They were then allowed to go to the projector room to start the preview before settling down to watch the film, which is the first part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Rings.

It stars Sir Ian McKellan, Iain Holme, Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee -- and is expected to be a huge hit with Cinema goers.

And a group of youngsters from the school were lucky enough to be invited to the premiere in London recently, because of the Tolkien connection. Scholars have long believed that Professor Tolkien, who also wrote The Hobbit, regularly visited Stonyhurst College.

They knew that one of his sons, Michael, taught classics at Stonyhurst and St Mary's Hall in the 1960s and '70s and that his eldest son John, who was studying for the priesthood, was evacuated with the English College in Rome to St Mary's Jesuit seminary during the Second World War.

South African-born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973), an Oxford professor, is one of the world's most popular fiction writers. But proof that South African-born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973), an Oxford professor, stayed in the Ribble Valley had remained hidden until the recent discovery of a college visitors' book in which his name appears many times between 1942-47.

Another astonishing find was his sketch of the guest house, New Lodge, on the back of which is a personal note to the owners thanking them for a wonderful holiday. The detective work has been done by Mr Hewat, who uncovered the evidence as part of proposals to launch a new Tolkien library and study centre at St Mary's.

He said: "It was during his time spent staying at Stonyhurst College that JRR Tolkien penned the long-awaited story of The Lord of the Rings, encouraged to do so by numerous requests from those who had read and loved The Hobbit.

And he now hopes to contact the trilogy's producers about the Ribble Valley connection.

Mr Hewat said Tolkien found time to write part of The Lord of the Rings in a classroom on the upper gallery at Stonyhurst College and would take walks with his son when not writing.

"As a professor at Oxford, JRR Tolkien even taught a few lessons at Stonyhurst College during his stay," he added.

The area is also dotted with names familiar with The Lord of the Rings, said Mr Hewat, including Shire Lane in Hirst Green or the River Shirebourn, perhaps named after the Shireburn family who built Stonyhurst.

"And Pendle Hill, famous for its witches is surely inspiration for Middle Earth's Misty Mountains or the Lonely Mountain?"

But Tolkien experts in Birmingham also lay claim to being the author's inspiration.

They say the Old Forest, the magic land of Lothlorien and Midgewater Marshes were inspired by Moseley Bog, where Tolkien would have played as a child.

And the Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith by the Perrott's Folly and the Birmingham Waterworks, two distinctive towers in Edgbaston.