THE TOLKIEN SESSIONS AT SAREHOLE MILL

 Sarehole Mill, Birmingham:

The Tolkien Sessions…

Introduction…

The sessions would eventually evolve from the very first attempt, which was videoed by the Head of Department Jan Anderson in rainy conditions both in Wake Green Road and at the nature reserve called Moseley Bog. JRR Tolkien of course lived in Wake Green Road for a short while as a boy and played not only in Moseley Bog but also around Sarehole Mill and near the River Cole. It was obvious then that to feature JRR Tolkien, the Bog, the Mill and the River in a teaching session for visiting pupils would have its benefits.

AS JRR TOLKIEN WITH CLAY PIPE...

The first scenario, devised by Elfyn Morris and myself involved the visiting children helping Elfyn to make a film report for Central TV about JRR Tolkien’s life. He would meet each visiting class at the Mill, walk them round the corner into Wake Green Road and cross it to a street corner at Thirlmere Drive. There, Elfyn would confess that he couldn’t find where Tolkien had lived for a short while as a young child and so pretended to ring the studios to explain that fact. In fact, he would be calling my phone to let me know that he was in place and that I should begin walking towards the group from further along Wake Green Road.

Session 1…

We were all set to go but we were soon beset by two problems. Firstly it began raining and secondly, the visiting Year 6 children were unruly, noisy and poorly led by their adults. However, Elfyn and I, carrying similar umbrellas battled on regardless… 

I was dressed as a Scottish chap, wearing a hat, glasses and a false grey-black beard and I strolled down Wake Green Road to meet up with Elfyn and the children. However, I was meant to scold the group with a broad Scottish accent, telling them to move out of the way because anyone pushing a pram down that road wouldn’t be able to get past and anyway, schoolchildren ought to be in school, learning… 

ELFYN TRIES TO REASON WITH THE AWKWARD SCOTSMAN...

The fluffy bits of the beard kept slipping into my mouth though as I had approached the children, so that I had to keep spitting it out and when a couple of buses passed me, several passengers stared at the rather peculiar character in view. I waved to them though, feeling no more stupid than I usually did as myself…

However, with Jan Anderson filming beneath another umbrella, due to the rain and because of the noise made by traffic and the pupils, it was difficult to hear what was being said to me and virtually the first thing I did therefore was to tell the children to shut up… That set the tone for my grumpy Scottishness but despite my scripted annoyance about the children not being in school, Elfyn calmed me down in his TV filmmaker role and asked whether I knew where JRR Tolkien had lived as a child. 

I POINT OUT WHERE TOLKIEN LIVED FOR A WHILE AS A BOY...

I pointed out the house to him and then he wondered whether I had ever met the local miller Mr Andrews, who had chased Tolkien and his little brother off the Mill’s property on several occasions. I then said that I was the miller’s son, which really enthused Elfyn and he suggested that I turned towards the camera and be filmed but I refused. He urged me to again, saying that I would be on the TV news that evening, so I said, “All right then…” and turned to look at the lens inanely…

ELFYN ENCOURAGES ME TO LOOK AT HE CAMERA...

"ALL RIGHT, THEN..."

Elfyn then told me that my father had been an inspiration for a white ogre in Tolkien’s stories and then he asked me how the group could to get into Moseley Bog, from whence more magical inspiration had come and I told the group that if they walked along Thirlmere Drive, they would reach a gate into the wooded area, which they thanked me for and I headed on my way.

In fact I was hurrying back to the mill to change clothes into a JRR Tolkien costume, including a hat and a bright waistcoat, before lighting a real pipe and rushing to the Bog to appear as Tolkien returning to his childhood haunt. The children were quite poorly behaved though and Elfyn really had his work cut out to keep the session going but despite the rain and the annoying pupils, he kept it all brimming over brilliantly. 

ELFYN & ME AS TOLKIEN AT THE BOG...

The children asked me a few questions, I answered them, puffed on my pipe and then walked away, my trousers tucked into my green goalkeeping socks. I stopped at a murky, weedy pool in full view of the children and stared into it, winding my arm like a snake, as if I had just thought of an idea, perhaps of a creature emerging from the depths, maybe Gollum…

IMAGINING STRANGE CREATURES IN THE BOG...

My young brother was always scared that something would crawl from that pond, I mused… 

THOSE SOCKS ARE SO COOL...

Back at the Mill, there was more formal questioning from the children and that went fine, which was good for me, having had to learn as much as I could about Tolkien’s childhood, schooling, marriage, First World War experiences and how he came to be a successful writer. I was thus tested and I remembered just about everything I needed to know… Relief.

Finally, the session ended with a tour of the mill and Elfyn kindly set the waterwheel turning, which was always memorable for any child…

Changes…   

It made more sense for the next group of Tolkien sessions to eliminate some of the walking and waiting outside the Mill and so, instead of the mad Scotsman strolling down Wake Green Road to meet Elfyn and the class of kids, it was decided that my colleague would simply walk the pupils into the grassy park area behind the Mill and I would meet them there instead. 

This ruse saved time but on one particular day, the visiting group was from Colmers Farm Primary School in Rednal, Birmingham and I knew both the class teacher and the accompanying headteacher, who had a Doctorate, presumably in education. I had assumed that Elfyn had met him before too, for the Head usually accompanied his pupils on school visits. 

As the wild Scotsman, I recall bellowing that the children shouldn’t be idling in a park but being taught maths in their classroom, then Elfyn explained to me about Tolkien and the film being made. A camera was present and so I turned towards it, smiling stupidly and in a broad Scottish accent said: “Hello, mum…” as I waved.

I asked who the adults were and when the headteacher was described as ‘Doctor’, I walked over to him and said: “Hello Doctor, would you have a look at my knee, please?” Flustered, he replied, “I’m not that kind of doctor…” 

Rallying, I kept at it, “Please Doctor, your opinion would be grand..." and held up my right knee for inspection… Elfyn was aghast and insisted that I left the poor chap alone but he was later horrified by my further ad-libbing with the guy, who looked visibly shaken himself.

I took the class to the house where Tolkien once lived, said that I was a descendent of the White Ogre farmer and left the group to change into another character at the Mill.

This time I was to be Bilbo Baggins’ nephew, walking in Moseley Bog and smoking my pipe… That worked better, although I still had to rush back to the Mill again afterwards and change into the JRR Tolkien character…

Elfyn and I saw the session through, which went vey well, for Colmers Farm were always agreeable and the children knew me anyway, from having studied ancient Egypt with me at the Museum. Elfyn though, was visibly upset, scolding me for the Doctor episode and he felt that we would receive a letter of complaint from the harassed headteacher…

It was then that I realised that Elfyn didn’t know the chap at all and when I told him that the guy always went out on school visits and that we knew each other well enough to joke with each other during sessions, my friend’s relief was palpable… 

However, further changes needed to be made to those Tolkien sessions and so we decided to dispense with the time-consuming Moseley Bog scene altogether and base the whole thing at Sarehole Mill. Subsequently I would play three characters: Gollum, the White Ogre and of course JRR Tolkien… 

Lord Of The School…

The final version of the Tolkien sessions involved much better filming techniques, a clapper board which I believe Elfyn had acquired from eBay and the support of Ria Frate, who had joined the Schools Liaison Department as an IT expert. She was able to work on the editing of the films made by children during their visits to Sarehole, so that DVDs could be sent out to visiting schools within a few days of their sessions, wrapped inside in a smartly designed DVD box.

THE DVD LABEL...

My problem was to change costumes quickly enough so that the flow of the sessions wasn’t interrupted but I was able to use one of the Mill’s upper floors as a changing room. I would play the part of Gollum first, appearing in the distance as the children gathered round the millpond.

I would creep towards them, using an occasional tree to tarry behind, until, eventually, I would join the class, which would have been chatting to Elfyn about JRR Tolkien and how the Mill might have influenced his writing. 

GOLLUM EMERGES...

The children would have a series of questions to ask Gollum and hence Elfyn asked me whether I would be willing to be interviewed, whilst the children learned something about how films were actually made. Second takes were sometimes filmed and some of the filming was done from behind me as I answered the questions, so that the interviewer could be captured nodding as I responded to questions. It worked so well…   

FEAR...

SNARLING AT THE CAMERA...

A child held a microphone on an extended handle, another used the clapper board and I was amazed how involved the children became, as Elfyn played his part as the director superbly.

CAMERA OPERATOR & SOUND ENGINEER...

THE CLAPPER BOARD...

The characters… 

As Gollum I wore a rubber mask and when I tried it on it for the first time, I popped my head round the security guard’s office door and the sight of me visibly lifted him off his chair in shock. It wasn’t pretty. The children would ask Gollum questions about when he had been a Hobbit and about the Ring, all of which I had needed to learn about, in order to be able to answer the children with some truth, albeit in Gollum’s whispering voice. 

GOLLUM...

If a kid messed up, I often used the rubber fish I was carrying to knock gently against his or her head, which was hilarious to see but one day, Northfield Manor Primary School turned up. One lad was nervously asking Gollum a question by the millpond and he was called Callum, who looked as though he’d just eaten a mouthful of sprouts.

GOLLUM THINKS HE'S FOUND THE MISSING RING...

As I replied to his question, he began to back off slightly with horror written all over his face and several times he looked nervously down towards the water, which I thought meant that he was afraid of falling in… Not so. He didn’t like wildlife apparently and there before him was Gollum brandishing a fish about near his head… The experience was quite surreal…

CALLUM LOOKS A LITTLE PALE...

I would soon leave the children and hurry back inside the Mill to change roles and become the miller, The White Ogre. Elfyn would ask a child to sit on some steps outside the Mill and I would be asked to exit a doorway for the first scene, spot the child and chase it off, bellowing, just like JRR Tolkien and his brother were chased away when they had been children and maybe trespassed in the yard. 

HIDING FROM THE WHITE OGRE...

INTERVIEWING THE MILLER...

CHASING AN INFILTRATOR...

INTERESTING FACIAL EXPRESSION...

I would answer questions on the lowest floor of Mill about what I remembered of the Tolkien lads when they had lived nearby, after they came to live in England following their father’s death in South Africa. Questions were asked about their schooling and their mum too… 

I used a daft Cornish accent for that role, wore one of my Egyptian wigs, a false grey beard, a brown floppy hat and I had doused myself in flour. 

THE WHITE OGRE IS INTERVIEWED...

FLAILING...

As the children watched the waterwheel turn with Elfyn, I disappeared to make my way up a different access staircase to reach my changing area and don a trilby hat, a fancy waistcoat belonging to Elfyn, a shirt, a tie and an old suit jacket. Of course, I picked up my pipe too. I was to be JRR Tolkien… 

EARLIER IMAGE OF JRR...

PONDERING...

As children left the Mill at the end of their visits on a couple of occasions, I lit the pipe for a few moments to add credibility to the part but one day there must have been some stale tobacco inside the pipe and although it wasn’t lit, I placed it in my mouth during the interview. However, as I was being answering the questions, I began to feel really nauseous and I knew that I going to throw up at some point. Somehow, I managed to get to the end of the interview and then stood up, saying that I needed to stretch my legs…

Elfyn had noticed already that my face was turning green and as the children applauded Mr Tolkien’s exit, I quickly took off to an outside toilet and vomited… Gods, I have no clue how I managed to hold on for so long…

After that, I used an old clay pipe, minus tobacco…

A KING BRIAN, SORRY, KING CHARLES III EXPRESSION...

IF ELFYN OPENED A PUB, HE'D CALL IT THE TWISTED WRIST...

As JRR Tolkien, the questions asked were about the inspiration for my books, which books I had read as a child, how I came up with the names of my characters, about my family and about spiders, which means that here I have to mention the amazing Callum of Northfield Manor again… 

He was scripted to ask me whether I was afraid of spiders but I turned the question back on him… He said that he killed them, that he was a ‘verminator’… What? Really? I commented that just because he didn’t like them, he ended their lives? I told him that I had been bitten on the left wrist by a tarantula when I was a child in South Africa and Callum’s face changed when I showed him the scar on my left wrist, which in truth a vicious pet rabbit called Bigwig had once cursed me with in Solihull. Callum was thus hooked…

YES, IT'S CALLUM AGAIN...

I said that my nursemaid had acted quickly and sucked the poison from my wrist, then had spat it out. He asked me whether she had died but I confirmed that because she had spat out the poison, she had lived to tell the tale, as had I… Hence, I told him, I had never been frightened of spiders again but I had used them as imaginary creatures in my stories. 

He then asked me whether I was married, to which I replied: “You’re a bit personal, aren’t you?” However, I explained about my wife and that we had four children, to which he replied. “Cool…” 

I retorted, “No, cold, actually, for we have no heating in our home…” Cue laughter…

RIA & CREW LAUGHING AT SOMETHING SAID...

Amazingly, about three years later, a secondary school was visiting the Museum and as I walked through the lunch area in Gallery 30 to get to the Schools Liaison offices, I noticed a face I recognised: Callum’s…

He was eating his lunch and I asked his teacher if I could speak with him. He was alone at a table and he did recall the visit to the Mill, although of course, he had no idea who I was because I wasn’t dressed as Gollum, The White Ogre, or JRR Tolkien… He hadn’t changed at all… His teacher then revealed to me that when the group had visited the Nature Centre, he had been terrified of the wildlife there… 

My rubber fish hadn’t cured him, then…

A magical moment…

A small girl came out to interview JRR Tolkien one day and was clutching a copy of ‘The Hobbit’. She was deadly serious and had been totally drawn in by the activities during the session. She seemed almost in awe of the famous man as she hesitatingly asked her question, then when the session ended, Elfyn thanked me for playing all three roles and the children, as usual were surprised that I had played all three characters.

However, the small girl approached me again and asked me whether I would sign her dad’s ‘The Hobbit’ book for him… I was taken aback and glanced at the class teacher, who intimated that I should sign the volume. I asked her dad’s name and signed the book, ‘Best Wishes from JRR Tolkien…’, making up a signature, whilst feeling really uncomfortable… What if the guy tried to sell it as a signed copy on eBay?

The girl was dead chuffed and thanked me so much, adding that she thought my writing was great… Wow…

Yet she had ignored Elfyn’s explanation that I had played all three roles on the day and also the fact that Tolkien of course had been dead for many years…  

The power of role-play…

I still have my own copy of the Northfield Manor visit and my memory of Callum will never be lost in time…

The final words…

I loved those sessions at Sarehole Mill and working with Elfyn was the best, although I did play him up rather often when in role and I no doubt got on his nerves… Strangely though, despite our differences in lifestyle, we seemed to work well and get on well together…

HARASSING ELFYN...

I hope he agrees!

WONDERFUL DAYS...