[William Cloud Hicklin]

Christopher is a very kind and generous gentleman of the old school- certainly he has been so to me, and to many Tolkien scholars and readers! He is also, however, private and rather shy- but not a hermit!- and really, really dislikes giving interviews. This has resulted in the Press printing some really bizarre fictions about the poor man, some of which appear to be motivated by petty spite.

His life's work has been to preserve and present his father's written legacy. The History of Middle-earth took fourteen years of steady work, for essentially no financial return: it was basically a break-even proposition. CRT did it because he thought it was important for (some portion of) the public to see his father's literary process from the beginning. He has steadfastly resisted the temptation to 'milk the cash cow' (as Saul Zaentz has done so shamelessly)- even though of course he could have become rich on a Jo Rowling level had he approved Timothy Zahn-penned Middle-earth novels and Saturday morning hobbit cartoons and a line of Lord of the Rings-branded funeral caskets (I'm not making this last one up). It therefore seemed to him proper to remain completely neutral on the Peter Jackson movies- which in Networld of course was turned into 'opposition.' He was unfairly castigated for blocking the Hobbit movie (in fact a rights dispute between New Line and MGM), and a props museum in New Zealand (actually blocked by Zaentz' Tolkien Enterprises).

Perhaps the most brutal attacks, though, have come from a warped and distorted Web version of the strained relationship between CRT and the son of his first marriage, Simon. (In the developed version, CT 'disinherited' him for attending the LR premiere!) In actual fact, it was Simon who used the PJ hype to flog his own novel and air his dirty laundry, to which Christopher has dignifiedly chosen not to respond publicly. It is a documented fact, however, that Simon was never removed from the board of the family company, since he was never on it in the first place; and the formation of the company occurred two years before PJ's Fellowship was released.

Reading between the lines, my *opinion* (I stress that) is that Simon is all about the money, and has agitated for years to sell out and milk the cash cow- certain things he has done and said create the impression of venality- and his father understandably did not want that attitude represented on the Board.

By contrast, CRT's second son Adam has expressed his concern over the name Tolkien becoming merely a 'brand,' which augurs well for the future.

Oh, yes: Christopher does NOT keep wild boar.