La voz de Tolkien

En la web tolkienbrasil.com he encontrado un artículo en el que se cuelga dos audios de algo así como un curso de inglés en EP, el Linguaphone Conversational Course, de 1930, consistente en 78 discos lanzados por la aún existente Linguaphone Institute of London. En ellos sale un señor introduciendo un tema, posteriormente hay un pequeño diálogo relacionado con dicho tema. En este caso concreto, uno trata sobre la radio (wireless), en la que ambos personajes tratan sobre los beneficios de tal adelanto tecnológico y otro sobre el tabaco, en la Tolkien hace de estanquero.

Para los lectores de Tolkien, poder escucharle, es más, poder escucharle en un momento tan temprano como es julio de 1929 es algo bastante curioso y, como es lógico, algo que a cualquiera le interesaría.

Según el blog brasileño, los audios se descubrieron en 2008, entonces se digitalizaron y se colgaron en la British Library para el gratis acceso de los interesados.

Como saben los que me conocen, Tolkien es para mí uno de los grandes de la literatura universal, y no solo lo creo, sino que lo puedo demostrar, de ahí que de vez en cuando, como se puede ver en el blog del grupo NT http://grupont.blogspot.com.es/ , me gusta hacer un pequeño homenaje a modo de entrada a dicho escritor. En este caso, traigo dichos audios a este humilísimo blog, para que podáis oír la voz de Tolkien. En cada enlace añado debajo la transcripción:


At the tobacconist's (lesson 20)

http://sounds.bl.uk/Arts-literature-and-performance/Early-spoken-word-recordings/024M-1CS0011556XX-0200V0

If anybody were to ask me which shop windows I found the most interesting in London, I should find it very hard to answer. My wife, I know, would be all in favour of the drapers, the milliners, and the jewellers. My eldest son would be all for the sports shops, with their golf clubs, tennis rackets, cricket bats, and footballs. The children would vote for the toy-shops … and I… well, I must confess to a weakness for the tobacconist’s window.

Not that I smoke a lot, but there’s something fascinating about seeing the neat little piles of different coloured tobaccos, the beautifully polished briar pipes, the attractive boxes of cigars and cigarettes. If you smoke a pipe, you have the choice of dozens of excellent brands of pipe tobacco; if you are fond of cigars, then you can get them at any price you care to pay; and if you prefer cigarettes, then you may have Virginian, Turkish, or Egyptian, whichever you like. Virginian cigarettes are, of course, those made of American tobacco.

Matches are good and cheap, and you’ll find all kinds of articles for smokers such as tobacco pouches, cigar and cigarette cases and holders, lighters, and so on, in every tobacconist’s window. Many tobacconists, especially in the suburbs, are at the same time newsagents, stationers, and booksellers, so that you can also buy books, magazines, newspapers, picture postcards, and other stationary — notepaper, envelopes, and so on.

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: Can you recommend me some pipe tobacco?

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]: Certainly, sir; mild, medium, or full strength?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: Oh! — er — medium, please.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]:I have a very good mixture of my own; would you care to try it?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: How much is it?

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]: It’s a shilling an ounce, sir, and very cheap at the price. I just keep it for my regular customers.

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: Well, give me two ounces, please.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]:Have you a pouch, sir, or shall I pack it up?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: Put one ounce in the pouch and pack the other . . . thank you.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]:Anything further, sir?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]: Yes, let me have a box of fifty cigarettes.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]: Virginian or Turkish, sir?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]:Turkish, please.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]:Now, this is a very good cigarette, sir. I think you’ll like it. Six shillings for fifty.

[A. Lloyd James Voice]:All right, give me fifty. And let me have some matches, too.

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]:Yes, sir. One box?

[A. Lloyd James Voice]:Yes, one box. How much is that altogether?

[J. R. R. Tolkien Voice]: Let me see, that’s 2/- [two shillings], 8/- [eight shillings], 8/1d. [eight-and-a-penny] in all, sir . . . thank you, sir. Good morning.

Wireless (lesson 30)

http://sounds.bl.uk/Arts-literature-and-performance/Early-spoken-word-recordings/024M-1CS0011570XX-0200V0

Introduction (A.Lloyd James)

“Wireless,” or “Radio” as it’s sometimes called, is the most wonderful discovery in an age of discoveries. Seated comfortably in your home, you can hear music, lectures, and news broadcast hundreds of miles away. By means of wireless telephony, you can carry on a conversation with a friend on the other side of the world.
I listen in almost every evening. I began, like most amateurs, with a simple crystal set with ear-phones and an outdoor aerial attached to the roof, but now I have a five-valve set, with an indoor frame-aerial and loud-speaker. The results are excellent. I can cut out the local station quite easily and have no difficulty whatever in getting almost any station I like in Europe. I don’t profess to know anything of the technical side of the business. One of my friends – Hughes – talks very learnedly about long and short wave lengths, dials, batteries, condensers, oscillators, self-induction and other coils, switches, high and low tension, but it’s all Greek to me. I know just about enough to turn the knobs and tune in to the station I want. I use my wireless set a good deal for keeping up my foreign languages: I find it a very useful addition to the Linguaphone Courses. When I want to hear German, I tune in to somewhere in Germany. France gives me French, Spain Spanish and Italy Italian. And what a blessing wireless has been in times of disaster at sea. Thousands must owe their lives to this discovery of the twentieth century.

 [A. Lloyd James]: Well, how’s your wireless going?

[J. R. R. Tolkien]: Oh, not too badly, though I’ve had some difficulty lately in getting distant stations. I suppose it’s the weather.

[A. Lloyd James]:What station are you trying to get now?

[J. R. R. Tolkien]: I want to pick up Daventry if I can. Do you ever get any of the English stations?

[A. Lloyd James]:I do sometimes, but mine is only a three valve set, and not of the latest type either, so I’m not always successful in getting England.

[J. R. R. Tolkien]: Sh! Here we are. Listen.

[A. Lloyd James]: What is he saying?

[J. R. R. Tolkien]:This is London and Daventry calling the English Isles. He is going to tell us all about the weather, and then there will be a concert from the Queen’s Hall.

[A. Lloyd James]: That ought to be very good.

[J. R. R. Tolkien]:It is. Sh! Listen. Can you hear the orchestra tuning up? And now the applause as the conductor walks up to his desk.

[A. Lloyd James]: What are they going to play? Have you got the programme?

[J. R. R. Tolkien]: Yes . . . Here they are as clear as anything. You know this, of course. The Tristan overture by Wagner.

[A. Lloyd James]:Isn’t it marvellous? To think that we can sit here in comfort and listen to music hundreds of miles away!

[J. R. R. Tolkien]: Yes, it’s very wonderful indeed. Who would have thought it possible, say twenty-five years ago, that we should be able to hear, whilst sitting in our own room, a waltz played in Vienna, a mazurka played in Warsaw, chamber music from London, an opera from Berlin or Rome.

[A. Lloyd James]:And before long, I suppose, television will be as common as broadcasting is today.

Curiosamente, hay una tercera grabación en dicha biblioteca de un señor que cuenta que le gusta leer sobre historia natural, también sobre naturalezas fantásticas como la de Tolkien, sólo por curiosidad, os lo pongo. El momento este concreto es entre 1:15:00 y 1:22:00:

http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Science/021M-C1379X0063XX-0001V0