1 00:00:04.540 --> 00:00:07.000 Hello and welcome to Mythmakers. 2 00:00:07.180 --> 00:00:09.860 Mythmakers is the podcast for fantasy fans 3 00:00:09.860 --> 00:00:12.920 and fantasy creatives brought to you by the 4 00:00:12.920 --> 00:00:14.720 Oxford Centre for Fantasy. 5 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.220 My name is Julia Golding. 6 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:23.560 Now, the 25th of March, which is during 7 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:26.120 this week when this podcast is being released, 8 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:30.600 is celebrated as the Tolkien Reading Day. 9 00:00:31.200 --> 00:00:34.940 And that's because it's the day that the 10 00:00:34.940 --> 00:00:36.720 ring goes into the fire, if you're following 11 00:00:36.720 --> 00:00:39.220 Tolkien's calendar in the Lord of the Rings. 12 00:00:39.480 --> 00:00:41.700 And also in terms of the church year, 13 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:44.480 which was very important to Tolkien, it's Lady 14 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:44.780 Day. 15 00:00:45.220 --> 00:00:48.060 So one of the special feast days in 16 00:00:48.060 --> 00:00:49.740 the Roman Catholic Church. 17 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:53.000 So in terms of celebrating, I thought we 18 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.980 would have a focus on what people have 19 00:00:55.980 --> 00:00:57.920 been reading through the ages. 20 00:00:58.620 --> 00:01:00.420 And shortly, we're going to be having a 21 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:04.519 special guest on the podcast, Malcolm Gite, whose 22 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:08.760 new Galahad and the Grail, the first of 23 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:13.440 his proposed Arthurian epic poetical work, has just 24 00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:14.020 come out. 25 00:01:14.160 --> 00:01:16.840 And I thought we could talk about what 26 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.380 Arthur has meant to people over the centuries. 27 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:22.140 We have touched on Arthur once before on 28 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:24.780 the podcast, with an expert to do with 29 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:25.780 all things Arthurian. 30 00:01:25.880 --> 00:01:28.960 But here I'm thinking more about how people 31 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:30.500 have responded as readers. 32 00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:33.700 So we're not really looking into the historical 33 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:35.640 evidence for Arthur. 34 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:39.200 That is another kind of podcast entirely. 35 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:41.580 But we're looking at what people have got 36 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:44.860 over the centuries reading about Arthur. 37 00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:49.940 Now, Arthur is ubiquitous in the UK. 38 00:01:50.220 --> 00:01:53.060 You'll go to many places and visit all 39 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:55.320 sorts of different parts of the kingdom. 40 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:00.580 And you'll find places named after Arthurian characters 41 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:01.780 or after himself. 42 00:02:02.800 --> 00:02:04.420 And for those of you who have somehow 43 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:07.440 managed to avoid what Arthur is about, he 44 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:11.900 is a king of legend or myth, who 45 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:19.700 supposedly existed after the Romans left and before 46 00:02:19.700 --> 00:02:22.120 more recorded history. 47 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:28.280 And he joined together the different tribal groups 48 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.600 at the time and became a great king. 49 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:33.520 Now, a lot of that is based on 50 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:36.460 stories attached to real kings that kind of 51 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:39.280 have been scooped up by Arthur. 52 00:02:39.740 --> 00:02:44.580 And then there's also this Celtic folkloric element, 53 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.840 which has also been sort of put around 54 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:49.060 him. 55 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:51.140 So he's one of those figures who've attracted 56 00:02:51.140 --> 00:02:53.000 stories, barnacles. 57 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:56.740 So he's like something that's sunk in the 58 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:56.940 sea. 59 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:58.280 And if you go down now and have 60 00:02:58.280 --> 00:02:59.700 a look at it, it's got barnacles and 61 00:02:59.700 --> 00:03:01.840 seaweed and starfish and all sorts of things 62 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:02.560 growing on it. 63 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:04.980 What the original structure was, who knows? 64 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.840 And it doesn't matter, because the stories are 65 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:08.720 so powerful. 66 00:03:09.700 --> 00:03:10.740 Where did it all come from? 67 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:14.720 Well, originally, there were brief mentions in histories 68 00:03:14.720 --> 00:03:17.700 written by the very early chroniclers, and they 69 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:20.900 don't really interest us so much as in 70 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:21.860 terms of readership. 71 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:24.500 It's more they were the sources that got 72 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:28.280 Arthur's stories into the English language. 73 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:33.640 And there is a history where he was 74 00:03:33.640 --> 00:03:36.460 taken up by the Germans and the French 75 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:37.620 and all sorts of people. 76 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:42.560 But where we really start is with the 77 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:45.620 story of the Morte d'Arthur. 78 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:48.300 It's a French title, isn't it? 79 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.120 But actually, it is one of the very 80 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:51.340 first books printed. 81 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.620 I've got a pretty ancient edition here, not 82 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:56.160 the Caxton version. 83 00:03:57.100 --> 00:04:01.240 But Thomas Mallory collected all sorts of stories 84 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:04.300 and organized them into a long... 85 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:05.780 Let's see how many books there is in 86 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:06.000 my... 87 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.440 I think it's 12 books. 88 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:09.980 Well, no, no, no, much more than that. 89 00:04:10.540 --> 00:04:13.160 21 books in this story. 90 00:04:13.720 --> 00:04:17.180 And you'll find in here all the sort 91 00:04:17.180 --> 00:04:21.240 of popular versions of what you know as 92 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:22.040 Arthur's stories. 93 00:04:22.760 --> 00:04:25.440 So you'll get the Arthur and Mordred and 94 00:04:25.440 --> 00:04:28.160 Excalibur and Guinevere and Lancelot. 95 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:29.140 They're all in here. 96 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:32.380 And you, of course, get the story of 97 00:04:32.380 --> 00:04:32.920 the Grail. 98 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:35.940 The Grail is the cup used at the 99 00:04:35.940 --> 00:04:39.960 last supper by Jesus and his disciples, also 100 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:42.240 thought to have caught some of his blood 101 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.520 on the cross and then brought to England. 102 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:47.460 Yeah, you're with me still? 103 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.380 By Joseph of Arimathea, and it becomes a 104 00:04:51.380 --> 00:04:54.160 sort of mystical cup that is much sought 105 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:54.500 after. 106 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:56.760 It's the kind of thing that would be 107 00:04:56.760 --> 00:05:00.120 the aim of an Indiana Jones quest, that 108 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:01.360 kind of religious object. 109 00:05:02.640 --> 00:05:06.040 So Mallory, in a sense, really kicked off 110 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:10.960 the main reading phase of King Arthur. 111 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.840 Before then, it would have been in poetry 112 00:05:13.840 --> 00:05:15.460 and songs that were performed. 113 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:17.940 But now there was something you could have 114 00:05:17.940 --> 00:05:21.460 in your household or in your library and 115 00:05:21.460 --> 00:05:22.260 you could read. 116 00:05:22.660 --> 00:05:24.480 So what does it sound like? 117 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:25.940 What is Mallory like? 118 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:30.440 It's fairly close to modern English, even though 119 00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:36.400 the actual date of first publication, 1470, in 120 00:05:36.400 --> 00:05:39.120 the ninth year of Edward IV. 121 00:05:39.740 --> 00:05:42.680 So if you think about history, this is 122 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:43.780 before the Tudors. 123 00:05:46.460 --> 00:05:49.100 It's really where the medieval world is turning 124 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:50.880 into the Renaissance world. 125 00:05:51.020 --> 00:05:51.840 It's that period. 126 00:05:52.820 --> 00:05:54.600 And the printing press is a big part 127 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:55.200 of that. 128 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:58.620 And it was a bestseller in its era 129 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:00.820 and it still is a jolly good read. 130 00:06:00.900 --> 00:06:02.260 So I'm going to choose a little bit 131 00:06:02.260 --> 00:06:04.540 to read to you, just so that you 132 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:06.340 can get a flavour of it. 133 00:06:07.420 --> 00:06:08.600 So I'm going to read you the bit 134 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.260 where Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone. 135 00:06:12.760 --> 00:06:14.800 So this sword has arrived. 136 00:06:15.200 --> 00:06:17.400 It's set in a stone and no one 137 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:19.280 so far has been able to pull it 138 00:06:19.280 --> 00:06:19.580 out. 139 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.880 So upon New Year's Day, when the service 140 00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:25.260 was done, the barons rode unto the field, 141 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:27.640 some to Joust and some to Tourney. 142 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:30.760 And so it happened that Sir Hector, that 143 00:06:30.760 --> 00:06:34.020 had great livelihood about London, rode unto the 144 00:06:34.020 --> 00:06:34.360 Joust. 145 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:36.960 And with him rode Sir Kay, his son, 146 00:06:37.320 --> 00:06:40.160 and young Arthur, that was his nourished brother. 147 00:06:41.020 --> 00:06:43.540 And Sir Kay was made knight at all 148 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:44.320 Hallowmas afore. 149 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:46.960 So they rode to the Joust ward. 150 00:06:47.660 --> 00:06:49.540 Sir Kay lost his sword for he'd left 151 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:50.980 it at his father's lodging. 152 00:06:51.280 --> 00:06:53.240 And so he prayed young Arthur for to 153 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:54.120 ride for the sword. 154 00:06:54.940 --> 00:06:57.820 I will well, said Arthur, and rode fast 155 00:06:57.820 --> 00:06:58.700 after the sword. 156 00:06:59.140 --> 00:07:01.020 And when he came home, the lady and 157 00:07:01.020 --> 00:07:02.580 all were out to see the jousting. 158 00:07:03.280 --> 00:07:05.940 Then was Arthur Ross and said to himself, 159 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:08.240 I will ride to the churchyard and take 160 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.220 the sword with me that sticketh in the 161 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:12.860 stone for my brother Sir Kay shall not 162 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:14.360 be without a sword this day. 163 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:17.300 So when he came to the churchyard, Sir 164 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:19.460 Arthur alighted and tied his horse to the 165 00:07:19.460 --> 00:07:19.860 stile. 166 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:22.020 And so he went to the tent and 167 00:07:22.020 --> 00:07:23.780 found no knights there for they were at 168 00:07:23.780 --> 00:07:24.380 the jousting. 169 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:27.060 And so he handled the sword by the 170 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:30.580 handles and lightly and fiercely pulled it out 171 00:07:30.580 --> 00:07:33.060 of the stone and took his horse and 172 00:07:33.060 --> 00:07:34.560 rode his way until he came to his 173 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.520 brother Sir Kay and delivered him the sword. 174 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:39.920 And as soon as Sir Kay saw the 175 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:42.900 sword, he whisked well, it was the sword 176 00:07:42.900 --> 00:07:43.640 of the stone. 177 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:45.840 And so he rode to his father Sir 178 00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:48.780 Ector and said, Sir, lo, here is the 179 00:07:48.780 --> 00:07:51.900 sword of the stone, wherefore I must be 180 00:07:51.900 --> 00:07:53.000 king of this land. 181 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.480 When Sir Ector beheld the sword, he returned 182 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:57.940 again and came to the church. 183 00:07:58.200 --> 00:08:00.460 And there they all alighted, all three, and 184 00:08:00.460 --> 00:08:01.380 went into the church. 185 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:03.920 And anon he made Sir Kay swear upon 186 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.260 a book, how he came to that sword. 187 00:08:06.940 --> 00:08:10.060 Sir, said Sir Kay, bye-bye brother Arthur, 188 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:11.560 for he brought it to me. 189 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.040 How gatchy this sword, said Sir Ector to 190 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:15.320 Arthur. 191 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:17.980 Sir, I will tell you, when I came 192 00:08:17.980 --> 00:08:20.220 home for my brother's sword, I found nobody 193 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:22.320 at home to deliver me his sword. 194 00:08:22.580 --> 00:08:24.600 And so I thought my brother Sir Kay 195 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:26.060 should not be swordless. 196 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:28.520 And so I came hither eagerly and pulled 197 00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:30.620 it out of the stone without any pain. 198 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:34.159 So, gives you a flavour. 199 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:39.059 These days, that sort of repetition and what 200 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:41.039 have you would probably be edited out. 201 00:08:41.179 --> 00:08:43.020 I noticed that there was, you know, you 202 00:08:43.020 --> 00:08:44.540 say something once and then you say it 203 00:08:44.540 --> 00:08:45.260 again and then again. 204 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:47.360 But anyway, it still reads pretty well. 205 00:08:47.420 --> 00:08:50.120 There's only a few archaic words, like wist 206 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:52.920 and attorneying, all things which I think you 207 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:54.400 can get over quite quickly. 208 00:08:54.640 --> 00:08:56.660 So, if in terms of going to the 209 00:08:56.660 --> 00:08:58.660 source of Arthur Tales, don't be put off 210 00:08:58.660 --> 00:09:02.340 by the age of the Mork D'Arthur. 211 00:09:03.300 --> 00:09:05.780 But I would very much advise dipping in 212 00:09:05.780 --> 00:09:08.200 rather than trying to sit down and read 213 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:09.520 it all in one gulp. 214 00:09:09.880 --> 00:09:12.240 I remember studying this at university and I 215 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:13.520 think I had a week to do it. 216 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:17.140 And I got sort of dizzied by the 217 00:09:17.140 --> 00:09:18.280 number of different knights. 218 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:20.580 But you can see the very strong bones, 219 00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:23.280 shall I say, of the Arthurian legends here. 220 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:27.440 And Malory has absorbed all the stories that 221 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:29.760 have gone before and produced a very readable 222 00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:34.200 version of King Arthur, which has really influenced 223 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:35.340 what came next. 224 00:09:36.380 --> 00:09:40.600 So, while King Arthur was a popular folkloric 225 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:44.400 figure, he really comes again in sort of 226 00:09:44.400 --> 00:09:48.340 a new flourishing when it came to the 227 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:49.660 romantic poets. 228 00:09:50.560 --> 00:09:54.660 And in particular, I would point to Keats, 229 00:09:55.260 --> 00:10:01.280 who I think gives the sensibility rather than 230 00:10:01.280 --> 00:10:05.740 the knockabout stuff that you find in Malory, 231 00:10:05.900 --> 00:10:08.920 which is much more folkloric in its feel, 232 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:10.760 the sort of Jack the Giant Killer feel 233 00:10:10.760 --> 00:10:12.620 to Malory. 234 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.280 Keats gives it that melancholy air, which I 235 00:10:16.280 --> 00:10:19.220 think is often found in the art about 236 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:22.520 Arthur and the sense of loss that's in 237 00:10:22.520 --> 00:10:23.360 the Arthur tale. 238 00:10:24.260 --> 00:10:28.980 And, of course, probably his most famous Arthurian 239 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:32.300 poem is La Belle Dame Sans Merci. 240 00:10:33.660 --> 00:10:37.240 So, this is a ballad, which is the 241 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.080 verse form which, of course, many Arthurian tales 242 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:45.660 come in, including Malcolm's Grail poem, and it 243 00:10:45.660 --> 00:10:48.280 has a haunting call and answer. 244 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:51.560 Oh, what can ail the knight-at-arms, 245 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:53.620 alone and palely loitering? 246 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.620 The sedge has withered from the lake, and 247 00:10:56.620 --> 00:10:57.780 no birds sing. 248 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:00.740 Oh, what can ail the knight-at-arms, 249 00:11:00.920 --> 00:11:02.460 so haggard and so woe-begone? 250 00:11:03.040 --> 00:11:06.020 The squirrel's granary is full, and the harvest's 251 00:11:06.020 --> 00:11:06.280 done. 252 00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:09.960 I see a lily on thy brow, with 253 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.100 anguish moist and fever-dew, and on thy 254 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:16.040 cheeks a fading rose, fast whizzereth to. 255 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:19.060 I met a lady in the meads, full 256 00:11:19.060 --> 00:11:20.580 beautiful, a fairy's child. 257 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:23.200 Her hair was long, her foot was light, 258 00:11:23.520 --> 00:11:24.920 and her eyes were wild. 259 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:27.580 I made a garland for her head, and 260 00:11:27.580 --> 00:11:29.700 bracelets too, and fragrance own. 261 00:11:30.300 --> 00:11:32.140 She looked at me, and she did love, 262 00:11:32.260 --> 00:11:33.320 and made sweet moan. 263 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:36.400 I set her on my pacing steed, and 264 00:11:36.400 --> 00:11:38.460 nothing else saw all the day long. 265 00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:41.140 For side long was she bend, and sing 266 00:11:41.140 --> 00:11:42.420 a fairy's song. 267 00:11:43.180 --> 00:11:44.040 And so it goes on. 268 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:48.080 So the poor knight has been put under 269 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.380 the spell and left in the wasteland. 270 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:53.340 So if you're looking for a place to 271 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:56.100 read about King Arthur, which picks up this 272 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:59.520 feeling of melancholy and loss, Keats is definitely 273 00:11:59.520 --> 00:12:01.240 one to go for. 274 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:04.780 But of course, the poet of the 19th 275 00:12:04.780 --> 00:12:08.940 century, came after Keats, who is most famously 276 00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:12.200 associated with the stories of King Arthur, is 277 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:12.600 Tennyson. 278 00:12:12.780 --> 00:12:15.220 And there's a really interesting connection between Tennyson 279 00:12:15.220 --> 00:12:19.400 and Tolkien, because of course, he is the 280 00:12:19.400 --> 00:12:22.820 writer that was the most famous poet of 281 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:27.560 that era, and would have been in the 282 00:12:27.560 --> 00:12:30.880 bones of all of Tolkien's generation. 283 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.140 He wrote, of course, The Lady of Shalott 284 00:12:35.140 --> 00:12:36.280 and poems like that. 285 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:38.640 She left the web, she left the loom, 286 00:12:38.780 --> 00:12:40.860 she made three paces through the room, the 287 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:42.620 one with the mirror cracked from side to 288 00:12:42.620 --> 00:12:42.840 side. 289 00:12:43.140 --> 00:12:46.440 So famous it's become used for titles of 290 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:47.500 books like Agatha Christie. 291 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:52.560 But a longer cycle of poems that he 292 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:55.700 wrote, The Idols of the King, is a 293 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.980 very ambitious retelling, a bit like Mallory, of 294 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.240 pretty much the span of Arthur's life. 295 00:13:02.900 --> 00:13:05.000 I'm going to read you Arthur's passing. 296 00:13:06.380 --> 00:13:08.960 And tell me if you feel there's a 297 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.140 resonance here about something that happens in Tolkien. 298 00:13:13.880 --> 00:13:16.640 Arthur announces that he is going to the 299 00:13:16.640 --> 00:13:20.180 island valley of Avilon, to be healed of 300 00:13:20.180 --> 00:13:21.180 a grievous wound. 301 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.960 So said he, that's Arthur, and the barge 302 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.340 with oar and sail move from the brink, 303 00:13:28.760 --> 00:13:31.600 like some full-breasted swan that, fluting a 304 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.700 wild carol ere her death, ruffles her pure 305 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.600 cold plume and takes the flood with swarthy 306 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:38.020 webs. 307 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.060 Long stood Sir Bedivere, revolving many memories, till 308 00:13:43.060 --> 00:13:46.080 the hull looked one black dot against the 309 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:49.340 verge of dawn, and on the mere, the 310 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:50.680 wailing died away. 311 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.120 But when that moan was passed for evermore, 312 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.560 the stillness of the dead world's winter dawn 313 00:13:57.560 --> 00:14:00.100 amazed him, and he groaned, the king is 314 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:03.280 gone, and therewith all came on him the 315 00:14:03.280 --> 00:14:06.660 weird rhyme, from the great deep to the 316 00:14:06.660 --> 00:14:08.620 great deep he goes. 317 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.060 So that's standing watching the boat sailing west, 318 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:15.820 with the man left on the shore, who 319 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.120 is the one to go home and tell 320 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:18.640 the tale. 321 00:14:19.280 --> 00:14:22.500 It can't help but remembering Into the West, 322 00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:26.460 and Sam and Pippin and Mary watching the 323 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:29.100 boat sailing off to the Undying Lands. 324 00:14:29.540 --> 00:14:32.160 And that architecture of the lands of the 325 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:36.220 West being the places of healing, of course, 326 00:14:36.280 --> 00:14:40.480 is something which is taken from the Arthurian 327 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:45.460 legend, but is passed through Tolkien's own imagination 328 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:49.660 to become the land of the elves, the 329 00:14:49.660 --> 00:14:50.560 Undying Lands. 330 00:14:52.660 --> 00:14:56.660 So there is Tennyson who sits, you know, 331 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:01.140 he is the colossus poet of things Arthurian 332 00:15:01.140 --> 00:15:02.200 in the 19th century. 333 00:15:02.680 --> 00:15:06.400 But we shouldn't forget that someone who Tolkien 334 00:15:06.400 --> 00:15:09.080 admired, that is William Morris. 335 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:12.000 And he is very interesting when it comes 336 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.160 to the world of King Arthur, because he 337 00:15:15.160 --> 00:15:17.340 actually gives it a feminist spin. 338 00:15:17.560 --> 00:15:21.140 Some of his early poetry is a defense 339 00:15:21.140 --> 00:15:21.940 of Guinevere. 340 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.700 Her defense, when I say feminist, I mean, 341 00:15:25.780 --> 00:15:29.360 the defense is that of the defiant queen 342 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.700 actually able to have her own voice. 343 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.820 And it's an interesting one in that she's 344 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:38.900 posing a problem to the lords who are 345 00:15:38.900 --> 00:15:39.700 accusing her. 346 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:43.660 And she's asking them to imagine that someone 347 00:15:43.660 --> 00:15:46.100 comes, someone comes to them one night and 348 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.980 says, one of these cloths is heaven and 349 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:49.840 one is hell. 350 00:15:50.540 --> 00:15:53.820 Now choose one cloth forever, which they be, 351 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.420 I will not tell you, you must somehow 352 00:15:56.420 --> 00:15:56.960 tell. 353 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.120 It's also sort of saying the impossibility of 354 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:02.260 making right choices in life. 355 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.100 William Morris also writes other poems from the 356 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:09.460 Arthurian cycle, but he is part of the 357 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:13.560 visual world of Arthur in the Pre-Raphaelite 358 00:16:13.560 --> 00:16:16.880 and in the paintings that you've probably seen 359 00:16:16.880 --> 00:16:18.040 much reproduced. 360 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:23.100 There was the enjoyment of the whole world 361 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:27.800 of heraldry that surrounds the bigger world, the 362 00:16:27.800 --> 00:16:30.060 universe in our modern world. 363 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:32.380 It's the Arthurian universe. 364 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.640 So going on from the time of the 365 00:16:36.640 --> 00:16:41.600 Victorians who had great fun with the Arthur 366 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.180 stories, and they became an important part of 367 00:16:44.180 --> 00:16:47.840 the island story and you move into the 368 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.680 more cynical 20th century. 369 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:53.100 But what you get there is a change 370 00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:56.780 in tone, but some very interesting runs at 371 00:16:56.780 --> 00:16:57.300 Arthur. 372 00:16:58.100 --> 00:16:59.780 And one of which of course is T 373 00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:01.260 .S. Eliot's The Wasteland. 374 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.440 One of the stories which is an important 375 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.960 part of the Arthurian cycle is that of 376 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.980 the quest for the grail and the Fisher 377 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:14.200 King's castle is surrounded by a wasteland. 378 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:18.200 And it's that wasteland that T.S. Eliot 379 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:23.940 is nodding to when he calls his impressively 380 00:17:23.940 --> 00:17:27.880 revolutionary poem The Wasteland. 381 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:33.040 So it's using everybody's familiarity with Arthur to 382 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:37.280 have that as a heartbeat underneath his poem. 383 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:42.400 His poetic contemporary takes us into the world 384 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:45.080 of the Inklings and that is Charles Williams, 385 00:17:45.860 --> 00:17:52.060 who is the most bizarre and intriguing of 386 00:17:52.060 --> 00:17:53.360 the Inklings. 387 00:17:53.780 --> 00:17:58.580 The London born publisher who became friends with 388 00:17:58.580 --> 00:18:01.500 first C.S. Lewis and then Tolkien and 389 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:04.460 spent some of the war years in Oxford 390 00:18:04.460 --> 00:18:07.960 taking full part in the Inklings, but sadly 391 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.000 died during an operation in 1945. 392 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:17.620 And he regarded Arthur as his main theme 393 00:18:17.620 --> 00:18:17.920 really. 394 00:18:18.060 --> 00:18:20.820 It appears as the main theme of his 395 00:18:20.820 --> 00:18:23.700 own poetry, Taliesin through Logres. 396 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:27.920 Logres being a word for England in the 397 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.980 Arthurian cycle and regions of the summer stars, 398 00:18:31.460 --> 00:18:36.420 which are an unusual take on the Arthurian 399 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:36.900 stories. 400 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:39.780 But he also uses the quest for the 401 00:18:39.780 --> 00:18:42.740 Holy Grail as the main theme in his 402 00:18:42.740 --> 00:18:45.840 fabulous fantasy work The War in Heaven. 403 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:49.300 And he was also working on an Arthurian 404 00:18:49.300 --> 00:18:51.120 piece as he died. 405 00:18:52.620 --> 00:18:54.320 So just to give you a little taste 406 00:18:54.320 --> 00:19:00.380 of how Charles Williams sees King Arthur, I 407 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:01.940 thought I'd read you a little bit from 408 00:19:01.940 --> 00:19:02.660 his poetry. 409 00:19:02.660 --> 00:19:05.320 They're very dense and quite hard to understand. 410 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:08.780 So I'm going to take one of his 411 00:19:08.780 --> 00:19:12.640 most unusual ones, which is where Lancelot turns 412 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:13.800 into a werewolf. 413 00:19:14.260 --> 00:19:15.340 Now bear with me. 414 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.800 It sounds strange, but there is a source 415 00:19:19.800 --> 00:19:22.740 for this in the story, which is that 416 00:19:22.740 --> 00:19:26.780 Lancelot comes to Peles's castle, Peles's Carboneck, where 417 00:19:26.780 --> 00:19:29.880 the Grail is kept, the wounded king, the 418 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:30.480 Fisher King. 419 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:36.200 And he is tricked into sleeping with the 420 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:40.980 king's daughter Elaine, believing her to be Guinevere. 421 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.680 And finding out this double betrayal is what 422 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:45.580 drives him mad. 423 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:49.460 And he turns into this wolfish character. 424 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.700 And it's referred to in the legends as 425 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:53.660 him running mad. 426 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.760 And Williams gives it this particular spin. 427 00:19:57.340 --> 00:19:58.140 So here we are. 428 00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:02.120 Peles the wounded king lay in Carboneck, bound 429 00:20:02.120 --> 00:20:04.560 by the grating pain of the dolorous blow. 430 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:08.120 His flesh from dawnstar to noontide day by 431 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:10.740 day, ran as a woman's under the moon. 432 00:20:11.940 --> 00:20:14.060 In midsun he called on the reckless heart 433 00:20:14.060 --> 00:20:16.560 of god and the emperor, he commended to 434 00:20:16.560 --> 00:20:18.740 them and commanded himself and his land. 435 00:20:19.760 --> 00:20:22.540 Now in the wolf month, nine moons had 436 00:20:22.540 --> 00:20:25.700 waned since Lancelot Ridden, on a merciful errand, 437 00:20:26.120 --> 00:20:27.780 came that night to the house. 438 00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:31.200 There drugged and blurred by the medicated drink 439 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.800 of Bryson, Merlin's sister, he lay with the 440 00:20:34.800 --> 00:20:37.800 princess Elaine, supposed Guinevere. 441 00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:41.540 In the morning he saw, he sprang from 442 00:20:41.540 --> 00:20:44.540 the tall window, he ran into a delirium 443 00:20:44.540 --> 00:20:45.760 of lycanthropy. 444 00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:49.060 He grew backward all summer, laired in the 445 00:20:49.060 --> 00:20:49.660 heavy wood. 446 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.100 In autumn King Peles's servants brought him news 447 00:20:54.100 --> 00:20:56.760 of a shape glimpsed on the edge of 448 00:20:56.760 --> 00:21:00.820 Brosselandi, a fear in the forest, a foe 449 00:21:00.820 --> 00:21:02.120 by the women's well. 450 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.940 All the winter the wolf haunted the environs 451 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:07.780 of Carboneck. 452 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.360 Now what was left of the man's contrarious 453 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:13.940 mind was twinned and twined with the beast 454 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:14.980 bent to feed. 455 00:21:15.660 --> 00:21:17.800 Now it crept to swallow the seed of 456 00:21:17.800 --> 00:21:20.600 love's ambiguity, love's taunt and truth. 457 00:21:21.080 --> 00:21:25.100 Man he hated, beast he hungered, both stretched 458 00:21:25.100 --> 00:21:27.620 his sabres and strained his throat. 459 00:21:28.360 --> 00:21:30.800 Rumble of memories of love in the gaunt 460 00:21:30.800 --> 00:21:34.400 belly told his instinct, only that something edible 461 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.260 might come. 462 00:21:36.120 --> 00:21:39.020 Slathering he crouched by the dark arch of 463 00:21:39.020 --> 00:21:43.260 Carboneck, head high howling, lusting for food, living 464 00:21:43.260 --> 00:21:47.220 for flesh, a child's flesh, his son's flesh. 465 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.480 Now a bit of a plot spoiler, his 466 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:54.960 son by that strange happenstance turns out to 467 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.740 be Galahad who later saves the day and 468 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:01.480 heals everybody by achieving the grail quest. 469 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:06.320 So that is the extraordinary world of Charles 470 00:22:06.320 --> 00:22:09.560 Williams and Arthurian Tales and of course at 471 00:22:09.560 --> 00:22:12.540 this time we're getting films taking on King 472 00:22:12.540 --> 00:22:14.520 Arthur but the kind of Arthur you get 473 00:22:14.520 --> 00:22:19.380 in the films is more of the romance 474 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:23.480 as in the medieval romance version. 475 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:28.040 It's taken away from its intensely Christian roots 476 00:22:28.040 --> 00:22:29.960 of the grail quest and those kind of 477 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:35.340 stories and and concentrating more on the court 478 00:22:35.340 --> 00:22:39.160 drama and of course over in America you've 479 00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:43.520 got Mark Mark Twain writing a Yankee in 480 00:22:43.520 --> 00:22:44.960 the Court of King Arthur and things like 481 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:47.120 that so it's just shifting the story in 482 00:22:47.120 --> 00:22:49.700 a more sort of commercial in that case 483 00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:51.020 comedic version. 484 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:55.560 So you can see how the King Arthur 485 00:22:55.560 --> 00:22:57.580 story is reinvented at all times and in 486 00:22:57.580 --> 00:22:58.460 many places. 487 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:04.120 Moving to Tolkien himself, I mentioned the echo 488 00:23:04.120 --> 00:23:06.100 at the end of Lord of the Rings 489 00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:10.460 of the ships leaving for the west but 490 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:13.080 all throughout Tolkien there are echoes of the 491 00:23:13.080 --> 00:23:17.520 Arthur story with the special swords, the return 492 00:23:17.520 --> 00:23:21.620 of the king, Arthur is obviously fated to 493 00:23:21.620 --> 00:23:22.140 return. 494 00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:27.180 In Tolkien's version it isn't the same king 495 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:29.720 who returns it's his heir, Elendil's heir who 496 00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:31.540 is returning but that idea of the king 497 00:23:31.540 --> 00:23:34.580 coming back in the hour of need is 498 00:23:34.580 --> 00:23:41.080 underpinning Aragorn's story and Tolkien himself was working 499 00:23:41.080 --> 00:23:45.160 on his own Arthur stories and Sir Gawain 500 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:46.920 in the Green Knight was a huge area 501 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.740 of scholarly interest to Tolkien and he did 502 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:50.660 his own translation. 503 00:23:52.140 --> 00:23:56.900 Moving over to C.S. Lewis, he too 504 00:23:56.900 --> 00:24:01.220 loved the Arthur stories and where I find 505 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:05.100 it most apparent in C.S. Lewis's work 506 00:24:05.100 --> 00:24:10.260 is in Prince Caspian because the children Peter, 507 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:15.800 Lucy, Susan and Edmund are basically King Arthur. 508 00:24:16.320 --> 00:24:20.240 They are summoned back to Narnia like King 509 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.540 Arthur and come to the rescue of Prince 510 00:24:24.540 --> 00:24:25.200 Caspian. 511 00:24:26.020 --> 00:24:28.180 So, Lewis is doing his own little version 512 00:24:28.180 --> 00:24:33.420 of the Arthurian tale but it runs all 513 00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:37.240 throughout the Arthur stories including the way people 514 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:42.220 behave in Narnia with the quest for the 515 00:24:42.220 --> 00:24:43.660 white stag and things like that. 516 00:24:43.780 --> 00:24:48.100 They are all Arthurian themes and the way 517 00:24:48.100 --> 00:24:53.160 they are imagined as dressed in the regalia 518 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:57.060 of a knightly court and the balance of 519 00:24:57.060 --> 00:24:59.200 the shared power structure if you put it 520 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.840 like that is quite round table in Narnia. 521 00:25:04.280 --> 00:25:09.300 But there is another version of the Arthurian 522 00:25:09.300 --> 00:25:15.740 tale which comes in Lewis's Ransom Trilogy, the 523 00:25:15.740 --> 00:25:20.840 Space Trilogy, which is that hideous strength. 524 00:25:22.520 --> 00:25:27.140 The Ransom Trilogy is a very uneven work 525 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:29.340 in many ways because it shifts around from 526 00:25:29.340 --> 00:25:30.860 different genres really. 527 00:25:31.020 --> 00:25:32.260 The first being more of a kind of 528 00:25:32.260 --> 00:25:35.580 Flash Gordon out into space version and then 529 00:25:35.580 --> 00:25:40.680 you've got this meditative Miltonic visit to Paralandra. 530 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:43.140 And then in the last one, very influenced 531 00:25:43.140 --> 00:25:45.400 by Charles Williams, you've got the matter of 532 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:49.000 Arthur coming up and so taking over the 533 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:54.400 story and Ransom, our philologist hero, becomes the 534 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:56.260 Fisher King, the wounded king. 535 00:25:56.260 --> 00:26:00.660 You've got Merlin returning and you've got the 536 00:26:00.660 --> 00:26:04.380 replaying of many of the Arthur stories in 537 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:05.480 that book. 538 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.680 I find that one a hard read, so 539 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:10.440 I wouldn't suggest this is the first thing 540 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:13.560 you start to read if you are doing 541 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:17.300 an Arthur reading for your Tolkien celebration. 542 00:26:18.100 --> 00:26:22.220 There was a very recent and excellent adaptation 543 00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:25.820 by the BBC, a radio drama, of that 544 00:26:25.820 --> 00:26:29.760 which ironed out some of the judicious editing 545 00:26:29.760 --> 00:26:33.380 and reinterpretation of some of the less happy 546 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:35.620 parts of that story and I really enjoyed 547 00:26:35.620 --> 00:26:35.940 it. 548 00:26:37.340 --> 00:26:39.660 In fact, when I go back to that 549 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:41.460 Hideous Strength, the more I like it. 550 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:44.340 It's one of those books which I really 551 00:26:44.340 --> 00:26:46.980 didn't like first reading and then when I've 552 00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:48.840 gone back, I found more things in it 553 00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:49.220 to like. 554 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:50.980 I think one of the problems is the 555 00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:53.660 married relationship between Jane and Mark in it, 556 00:26:53.800 --> 00:26:58.100 which feels pretty, I don't like it. 557 00:26:58.500 --> 00:26:59.900 And if you read it, you'll see why. 558 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.840 A very odd version of how a successful 559 00:27:02.840 --> 00:27:03.980 marriage would work. 560 00:27:05.080 --> 00:27:07.020 I haven't mentioned T.H. White, of course, 561 00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:09.180 the once and future king, a brilliant retelling 562 00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:14.060 of the Arthur story, which underpinned the Disney 563 00:27:14.060 --> 00:27:17.080 versions of the story. 564 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:20.560 And then you've got the Roger Lansing Green 565 00:27:20.560 --> 00:27:25.280 retellings, which as a young inkling, he should 566 00:27:25.280 --> 00:27:25.860 be mentioned. 567 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:28.060 He was one of the people who brought 568 00:27:28.060 --> 00:27:31.000 Arthur stories to young people in an easier 569 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:33.600 form to read than Mallory. 570 00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:36.000 I've also had a go at doing my 571 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.680 own retellings in some ways. 572 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:41.360 When I first was trying to think up 573 00:27:41.360 --> 00:27:44.960 a story for my sons, I wrote a 574 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:48.260 trilogy called Young Knights of the Round Table. 575 00:27:48.840 --> 00:27:52.900 It came out in 2013 and it was 576 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:58.500 followed by Pendragon, who has a magnificent dragon 577 00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:00.400 on the front, and Merlin. 578 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:04.320 And in here, the idea is the Arthurian 579 00:28:04.320 --> 00:28:11.320 characters, when Arthur goes to Avalon, he is 580 00:28:11.320 --> 00:28:14.800 out of time, but Merlin is still in 581 00:28:14.800 --> 00:28:15.060 time. 582 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:17.520 So Merlin is actually hiding in Silicon Valley 583 00:28:17.520 --> 00:28:22.620 as a sort of tech wizard, and Arthur 584 00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:24.620 is in a sort of time capsule. 585 00:28:25.300 --> 00:28:28.880 And the children who are fighting the Fae 586 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.600 folk in the story, have to go and 587 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:35.500 gather the team in classic fashion to fight 588 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:37.140 the battle with them. 589 00:28:37.580 --> 00:28:39.240 But it has a sort of time slip 590 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:39.620 element. 591 00:28:40.020 --> 00:28:42.300 So one of my favourite scenes in it 592 00:28:42.300 --> 00:28:44.860 is they bring back, they've got King Arthur, 593 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:48.180 they bring him back and they end up 594 00:28:48.180 --> 00:28:52.420 at Blenheim Palace, where one of these show 595 00:28:52.420 --> 00:28:53.700 jousts is happening. 596 00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:57.520 And Arthur thinks, finally, my kind of people, 597 00:28:57.580 --> 00:28:59.860 and he actually is taking it seriously and 598 00:28:59.860 --> 00:29:01.660 trying to do damage, which, of course, isn't 599 00:29:01.660 --> 00:29:05.000 at all the idea of those show tourneys. 600 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:08.560 So it's a clash of expectations between the 601 00:29:08.560 --> 00:29:10.040 past and the present in that. 602 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.760 So I've had fun with the story myself. 603 00:29:15.620 --> 00:29:18.420 And as for the most successful screen adaptations 604 00:29:18.420 --> 00:29:22.480 of the Arthurian story, there have been many 605 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.920 attempts at this, including some films. 606 00:29:27.340 --> 00:29:30.000 One of the problems for filmmakers is, what 607 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:31.400 do they choose as a story? 608 00:29:31.740 --> 00:29:35.620 The beginning, the setup is the easiest. 609 00:29:36.840 --> 00:29:40.200 But the end is sad and sour. 610 00:29:41.120 --> 00:29:44.880 And the bits in between are really, Arthur 611 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:47.100 isn't the main character anymore, it's everybody else. 612 00:29:47.560 --> 00:29:48.600 So in fact, I think one of the 613 00:29:48.600 --> 00:29:53.880 most successful attempts at this was the BBC 614 00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:58.820 TV programme Merlin, which decided to feature Merlin 615 00:29:58.820 --> 00:30:01.100 and look at the story from the young 616 00:30:01.100 --> 00:30:03.920 wizard's point of view in a world where 617 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:06.440 magic is banned and outlawed. 618 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:07.700 So he's sort of in hiding. 619 00:30:08.340 --> 00:30:10.400 And it's dangerous to reveal that. 620 00:30:10.840 --> 00:30:11.800 It's a long journey. 621 00:30:11.800 --> 00:30:15.120 But if you stay with the series, there's 622 00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:17.260 actually a very sweet coda right at the 623 00:30:17.260 --> 00:30:21.360 end of the characters in the modern world, 624 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:22.600 which I love. 625 00:30:22.760 --> 00:30:24.200 So do look that up if you haven't 626 00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:26.380 found that BBC series. 627 00:30:26.760 --> 00:30:29.940 BBC doesn't have a huge budget for special 628 00:30:29.940 --> 00:30:31.340 effects, but they had enough to do a 629 00:30:31.340 --> 00:30:35.720 dragon, which has the voice of John Hurt, 630 00:30:36.620 --> 00:30:39.960 the famous actor who also played Ollivander in 631 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:40.780 the Harry Potter series. 632 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:42.380 So nice little connection there. 633 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:47.060 Anyway, so how better to celebrate Tolkien Reading 634 00:30:47.060 --> 00:30:50.300 Day than dipping into some of the Arthurian 635 00:30:50.300 --> 00:30:50.940 stories? 636 00:30:51.360 --> 00:30:54.060 Because you'll see, filtered through a different world 637 00:30:54.060 --> 00:30:55.920 and a different light, many of the ideas 638 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:57.540 actually inspired Tolkien's. 639 00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:59.800 So it's a good place to celebrate Tolkien 640 00:30:59.800 --> 00:31:01.780 when you're choosing your next read. 641 00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:03.440 Thank you very much for listening. 642 00:31:08.350 --> 00:31:12.390 Thanks for listening to Mythmakers Podcast, brought 643 00:31:12.390 --> 00:31:14.770 to you by the Oxford Centre for Fantasy. 644 00:31:15.510 --> 00:31:19.350 Visit OxfordCentreForFantasy.org to join in the fun. 645 00:31:20.050 --> 00:31:22.910 Find out about our online courses, in-person 646 00:31:22.910 --> 00:31:26.010 stays in Oxford, plus visit our shop for 647 00:31:26.010 --> 00:31:26.990 great gifts. 648 00:31:26.990 --> 00:31:30.350 Tell a friend and subscribe wherever you find 649 00:31:30.350 --> 00:31:32.790 your favourite podcasts worldwide.