YouTube – John Tolkien on “The Hobbit”.

Transcript:

The actual beginning, though it was not really the beginning, but the actual flash point was – I remember very clearly I ?? I took umm I still see the corner in my house in 22 Northmoor Road ??. I got an enormous pile of exam papers there, and uhh markings.. examinations.. summertime?.. it was enormous… very laborious. And unfortunately it was boring. And I remember picking up a paper and actually throwing.. I nearly gave an extra mark for it, an extra five marks actually – there was one page on this particular paper left blank – glorious – nothing to read. So I scribbled on it – I can’t think why: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit.