back to article Tolkien 'almost became WWII code-breaker alongside Alan Turing'

A planned biopic on Tolkien is slated to cover his brush with life as a WWII code-breaker, a role he ultimately didn't take up. The proposed film will attempt to show how his service as a soldier during WWI and other key events led the fantasy author to write The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien's time at …

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  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    Pass me another elf.

    This one's split.

    (From Orcs, by Mary Gentle (aka death of trees))

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pass me another elf.

      From Orcs, by Mary Gentle

      "Grunts", ITYM

      1. jjk

        Re: Pass me another elf.

        And it's Pass me another elf, sergeant.

        1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

          Re: Pass me another elf.

          That's what I get for posting before my brain is awake.

          Sorry Mary!

  2. KBeee
    Joke

    I can't wait for my biopic to come out - I wasn't a Codebreaker too!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Me neither!! That's a coincidence.

      WE should get together at the next Didn't Take it Up convention.

      God the last one was such a laugh. I can't believe you missed it.

    2. Red Bren
      Joke

      KBeee's biopic

      I've seen it. Sylvester McCoy deserves an oscar for his portrayal of your final stand against the lesbian space zombies…

      What do you mean you haven't got to that bit of your life yet?

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        Re: KBeee's biopic

        They werent lesbian space zombies.

        They were just Courtney Love clones.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: KBeee's biopic

          There's a difference?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The Tolkien estate is jealous at protecting the famed author's legacy and previous projects connected with his work"

    Also known as the income stream.

  4. Jemma

    Merry does remember we're cousins right...

    Right...?!?

    LoTR secret diaries...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wasn't a code breaker either, and so wasn't my wife, big nose.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anticipated

    It sounds like this biography adds the perspective of John Garth's recent work, "Tolkien and the Great War", which greatly expanded what was previously available from Humphrey's biography, Letters, and later biographies like Shipley.

  7. Uncle Siggy
    Mushroom

    Epic Pooh

    This film sounds about as enticing as does a big screen adaptation of the Sillymarillion, and could be nothing but epic pooh.

    1. MrDamage Silver badge

      Re: Epic Pooh

      How many curics did it measure?

    2. Rusty 1

      Re: Epic Pooh

      The Silmarillion is perhaps the best evidence that Tolkien wasn't so much a code breaker as a code *maker*. That darned thing is a code book, and I suspect it hasn't been broken yet.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Is Peter Jackson going to direct the biopic?

    If so, be prepared for a it to be shown in 5 parts :)

    (Troll icon does double duty in this case)

  9. i like crisps
    Coat

    " I SAY TURING"...

    ...they've taken the Enigma Machine to Isengard to Isengard to Isengard

    to Isengard they've taken the Enigma Machine to Isengard, Is-en-gard.

  10. cshore

    Why Tolkien didn't become a codebreaker...

    ... because the UK declared war on Germany, not Mordor.

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