[Mithalwen]

Well of course there are lots of good longevity genes in the family but he has now he is less than a year older than my increasingly frail father so I guess I am inclined to wonder and of course he has now passed his parents in age.

However given that he is (understandably) protective of his privacy and doesn't use his own name when travelling to the UK in any circumstances - it was perhaps unlikely to happen anyway. I went to a Terry Pratchett booksigning once and it would be unreasonable to expose even the halest octogenarian to anything like it.

Personally I am grateful he has spent so much of his time on his father's work and the new book was an unexpected bonus. While the baton has been passed to an extent to Hammond/Scull and Adam Tolkien, I am sure we would all hope that Christopher, with his unique perspective on Middle Earth stays with us for a good while yet...and that he spends his time writting down everything he can remember rather than signing books....