Tales from the Perilous Realm

The phrase Tales from the Perilous Realm was first coined by Brian Sibley for his 1992 BBC Radio 5 series of four of stories dramatised by a full cast and featuring Michael Hordern as Tolkien, the tale bearer. The phrase was then used again, without Sibley’s permission, by HarperCollins for their collection of four stories, each read by Derek Jacobi, as well as a published compendium. In both of these collections, three of the stories are the same: Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wootton Major. However, each collection also contains a story called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil which are not the same at all.

The BBC Radio 5 Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings chapters; The Old Forest, In the House of Tom Bombadil and Fog on the Barrow-downs. A part of the book which had been omitted from the 1982 BBC radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings by Brian Sibley and Michael Bakewell.

The HarperCollins collection’s Adventures of Tom Bombadil is the collection of 16 of Tolkien’s poems, first published in 1962 under this title and here read by Derek Jacobi.

Also included on this page is a French collection of Tolkien’s tales titled Faërie et Autres Textes (Faërie and Other Stories). This comprises Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major and Leaf by Niggle, as well as the essay On Fairy-stories.

Dates of January 1st indicate that the exact day of the year is not known.