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Sir Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek Jacobi is a legendary British actor of stage and screen and is widely considered one of the greatest actors of his generation. His career is defined by a forceful, commanding presence that contrasts with a famously modest and retiring personal nature. As a narrator, he brings a ‘grand old storyteller’ energy to the poems. He manages to sound like a Shire elder recounting old tales by the fireplace. Beyond his narrations, Jacobi appeared in the 2019 biopic Tolkien, playing Joseph Wright, the professor of Comparative Philology who influenced the young author’s linguistic development.
In 1997 he was brought into the studio by HarperCollins to record the Letters from Father Christmas. He was joined by two other high-profile actors, John Moffat to play Polar Bear and Christian Rodska to play Ilbereth. This was a pilot production in advance of taking on the collection of Tolkien’s shorter, non-Legendarium stories.
All went well and a delighted Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins gave the nod for him to come back again in 1998 and in one series of recording sessions, complete Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Leaf by Niggle, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil poetry collection and the newly published Roverandom.
These were all released on cassettes, early in 1999, with the exception of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil which was held back and only released when HarperCollins released their Tales From The Perilous Realm (HC) box set. Meanwhile in 2005, five out of these first six were collected together and released as The Tolkien Treasury box set.
Unlike the other tales, Mr. Bliss was recorded in 2011. It was specifically produced to accompany the new edition of the book that HarperCollins was launching that year. Recorded over a decade after the Letters from Father Christmas and Perilous Realm sessions, Jacobi’s voice has a slightly different, more “elder statesman” quality.
| Title | Recording Year | First Physical Release (UK) | First CD Release (UK) |
| Letters from Father Christmas | 1997 | 1997.10 (Cassette) | 2005.09.19 |
| Farmer Giles of Ham | 1998 | 1999.03 (Cassette) | 2003.09.01 |
| Smith of Wootton Major | 1998 | 1999.01 (Cassette) | 2003.09.01 |
| Leaf by Niggle | 1998 | 1999.01 (Cassette) | 2003.09.01 |
| Roverandom | 1998 | 1998.10 (Cassette) | 2003.09.01 |
| The Adventures of Tom Bombadil | 1998 | 2010.06.10 (CD Box Set)* | 2010.06.10 |
| Mr Bliss | 2011 | 2011.09.29 | 2011.09.29 |
*Note: Bombadil had no standalone UK cassette and its first ever CD appearance was actually the German import on Sept 12, 2005. It’s first UK physical release was as part of the Tales From The Perilous Realm (HC) box set.