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News Archive

Del Toro leaving ‘Hobbit’ films

According to an article on AccessHollywood.com, Guillermo Del Toro is officially stepping down from the director’s helm of “The Hobbit.”
Del Toro says: “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures…”

You can read the full story here.

Student creates miniature Bag End

When asked to design a toy as part of a college course, Tolkien fan Maddie Chambers created a miniature of Bag End. You can read the full story and see pictures of her wonderful model here.

Ian McKellen’s frustration!

Ian McKellen has revealed that whilst he is a huge fan of his character Gandalf he becomes frustrated when he is mistaken for Dumbledore from the Harry Potter movies.
You can read the full article here.

Happy birthday Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee was born in London, UK on 27th May 1922 and today is his 88th birthday. In the CoE gallery there are pictures of Christopher here and of Christopher in the role of Saruman here.

Happy birthday Christopher!

Happy birthday Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen was born on 25th May 1939 in Burnley, UK and today is his 71st birthday. You can read about Ian in the cast list. In the CoE gallery there are pictures of Ian here and pictures of Ian in the role of Gandalf here.

Happy birthday Ian!

Happy Birthday Cate Blanchett

May 14th is Cate Blanchett’s birthday. She was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1969 and is 41 years old today. You can read Cate’s CoE bio here. There are pictures of Cate here and of Cate in the role of Galadriel here.

Many happy returns Cate.

The Mariner: Sailing Around Middle Earth

This year’s Middle-earth weekend, at Sarehole Mill, UK, will be held on 15th and 16th May and has the theme of the Mariner to tie in with the International Maritime Organization’s Year of the Seafarer. A story that links the earliest ages of Middle-earth with “The Lord of the Rings” is the tale of Eärendil the Mariner.

The weekend’s programme runs from 11am to 5pm each day and information on how to get there can be found on the event’s own dedicated website here.

CoE Store Item of the Month

For the month of May the CoE Store will be featuring the new 2011 Lord of the Rings and Tolkien calendars. Both calendars are available now for pre-order and will be released over the summer. These calendars go fast, so order yours today!

Happy birthday John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies celebrates his 66th birthday today. John was born in Wiltshire, England, on the 5th of May, 1944. John’s cast biography can be viewed here. You can view pictures of John here and pictures of John in the role of Gimli here.

Happy birthday John!