Tolkien and French...

[davem]

Humphrey Carpenter tells of an incident when he & a BBC radio producer took Tolkien to a French restaurant to discuss the possibiity of him (Tolkien) taking part in a programme. At the end of the meal Carpenter broached the subject & asked Tolkien if he'd be interested in doing the broadcast. Tolkien replied 'Why don't you take me to dinner & ask me.'

As we know, Tolkien never forgave the French for the Norman Conquest - hardly surprising when you see what William & his followers went in for when they took over

From the Humber to Tees, William's men burnt whole villages and slaughtered the inhabitants. Foodstores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The land was salted to destroy its productivity for decades forward. The survivors were reduced to cannibalism[4], with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that the brains could be eaten.A plague followed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_North