I’ve always loved those children’s books that offered a map that unfolded from the cover. The Lord of the Rings set the standard, allowing you to trace Frodo’s travels through Middle-earth to the far lands of Mordor. Only as an adult did I discover that those fantasy worlds had been much closer to home than I had imagined.
Like Tolkien, I grew up in Birmingham and it was wonderful to realize that many of the reference points in the books were based on the geography of the author’s childhood – that the Shire itself was a recreation of his childhood happiness at Sarehole Mill; that the Old Forest where Tom Bombadil lived was reminiscent of Moseley Bog where the author lived his childhood adventures (now preserved as a nature reserve by the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust); that the Towers of Gondor were said to be based on two distinctive structures in Edgbaston: the 100ft Gothic Perrott’s Folly and the Waterworks Tower built by John Henry Chamberlain in 1870; and that the haunting eye of Sauron was evoked by a memory of the sad weeks Tolkien spent in the university hospital recovering from “trench fever” contracted in France in 1916, where the clock tower il The light he could see through the window kept him awake.
Nadine Dorries spent most of last week embarrassingly suggesting that the Commonwealth Games could finally put Britain’s second city and the entire West Midlands, home to three million, “on the map”. Perhaps the culture secretary should spend a day on the excellent Birmingham Museums Tolkien Trail (and follow it up with a stroll through Shakespeare’s Stratford and Dr Johnson’s Lichfield) to get her bearings.
brain bird
Consider Professor Nicola Clayton’s unfunded towers. Photograph: Duncan Usher/Alamy
Of all the shortfalls of Brexit, the one likely to be felt most keenly for decades to come is the UK’s tragic withdrawal from EU science funding, including the £80bn Horizon programme, from which universities and researchers British remain excluded, pending a positive resolution. of the Northern Ireland protocol. One department to be closed due to the loss of EU funding was the world-leading Comparative Cognition Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, which for two decades has pioneered work in understanding intelligence. advanced intelligence of the corvid family of birds, especially the rooks and crows.
Nicola Clayton, who runs the centre, was faced in the spring with the problem of finding new homes for the 32 hand-raised birds that have been partners in her research. The centre, which has revealed how rooks and cubs understand time, show empathy and can use tools, has been saved for the foreseeable future thanks to £500,000 in public donations. Since rooks, however, can live 80 years, plans for the average age of the birds remain, sadly, uncertain.
Don gets ready
The statue of Don Revie, outside Leeds United’s ground at Elland Road. Let’s hope Liz Truss doesn’t channel him too deeply. Photograph: Alex Dodd/CameraSport/Getty Images
One of the most surreal moments of the atrocious Tory debates was Liz Truss’s insistence that she would channel the spirit of Don Revie if she became prime minister. Leaving aside the fact that Revie had long since left Leeds United by the time Truss arrived at leafy Roundhay in the north of the city, the Don is a dubious role model. After being called up for the big job he craved as England manager in 1974, Revie failed to qualify for the European Championships and then quit the national team midway through a disastrous World Cup exit. World so he could take a much more lucrative job in oil. – Rich United Arab Emirates. Perhaps Truss already envisions a similar career path.
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Tim Adams is a columnist for the Observer
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