all British tolkienites HERE

[The Saucepan Man]

anyone catch that bit and can let me know what they said?

He said "Morrrdor" with the rolled "r", as the pronounciation in the film has it. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I find it somewhat confusing that those same people have absolutely no compunction about cheating on an Internet voting poll to ensure that LOTR wins said vote.

Well, voting once per week (as I have been doing) cannot be cheating, since the BBC's own rules allow that. Of course, there are people voting for the book more than once per week, but this is unavoidable, whatever "sophisticated systems" the BBC has in place.

As I have said, however, I doubt that this will have a significant effect on the result. The books are on a level playing field (in that people can vote for any of them more than once). And each one of the books will have its "hardcore" fans who want to see their favourite do well in the poll. To the extent that this does favour LotR, it will be because the book has a larger fanbase, and because it has made a stronger impression on those who regard it as their favourite book (such that they are keener to see it do well than the fans of the others on the list).

The purpose of the poll is to find the nation's favourite book (not the "best" book, for that is impossible to assess objectively). And if LotR does win, this will mean that it is, at this point in time, the nation's favourite book, in terms of the number of people who regard it as their favourite and (to the extent that multiple voting does have any material effect) the depth of feeling it stirs in them.