Latest news with #JRRTolkien


Time Out
21-06-2025
- Time Out
One of Britain's most ‘beautiful' bus routes is just one hour from London
London buses can be pretty chaotic. Riding a double-decker, passengers are likely to encounter someone blasting bad music from their phone, a person eating a sloppy kebab, and don't get us started on the lack of air-conditioning. So, Londoners might find it hard to believe that some bus routes in the country are tranquil, scenic, and even enjoyable. But, good news for all you city dwellers, because of the UK's most picturesque bus journeys is just one hour from the capital. The Telegraph has revealed the most beautiful bus routes in Britain, and one is within easy reach from the Big Smoke. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which embarks from, you guessed it, Cambridge, has been named as one of the top 10 most stunning bus rides in the country by the paper. On this journey, passengers ride in style on leather seats and with free wi-fi along tracks that resemble a tramway. The route that opened in 2011 goes from Cambridge to Peterborough on a pathway lined with leafy green trees. It's also an eco-friendly option, as the bus runs on biofuel. The second-closest route to London was Birmingham's number 11, which passes through Britain's answer to Hobbiton. This attractive bus ride traverses the 'Outer Circle' of Birmingham, passing through rolling green hills which supposedly inspired JRR Tolkien to create The Shire. Also on the list of the top 10 was what the Telegraph calls the 'rarest bus in the world', the 112 from Tavistock to Dawlish in Devon. Why is it the world's rarest bus? Well, it only runs on the fifth Saturday of every month between April and September. But if you can catch it, it's worth it, as the bus passes through Dartmoor and along the coast. The most beautiful bus routes in Britain, according to the Telegraph Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, Cambridge 4677, Berwick-upon-Tweed 112, Tavistock 830, Yorkshire Dales 11, Birmingham X18, Newcastle W17, Outer Hebrides Lakeside 599, Lake District 3, Dartmouth 740, Knighton You can read the Telegraph 's article in full here.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Bones of a raccoon-sized prehistoric lizard sat in a jar for 20 years
For 20 years, the remains of a giant lizard that lived alongside dinosaurs were tucked away in a jar at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Simply labeled 'lizard,' the fragmented and several millennia-old bones actually belonged to an entirely new species of giant lizard dug up from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah in 2005. Bolg amondol was a raccoon-sized armored mostesaurian lizard that lived about 77 million years ago, similar to today's Gila monsters (Heloderma horridum). It is named after the goblin prince from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and is described in a study published June 17 in the open-access journal Royal Society Open Science. It also serves as another reminder to double check those museum cabinets. The living and fossil lizards in the clade Monstersauria are defined by their large size and distinctive features, including pitted, polygonal armor attached to their skulls and sharp, spire-like teeth. While these lizards have been on Earth for roughly 100 million years, their fossil record is largely incomplete. Finding this new species of Bolg was a step towards understanding more about these lizards–and Bolg would have been quite the formidable monster. 'Three feet tip to tail, maybe even bigger than that, depending on the length of the tail and torso,' said Hank Woolley, a study co-author and paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles' Dinosaur Institute who found the unsuspecting glass jar. 'So by modern lizard standards, a very large animal, similar in size to a Savannah monitor lizard; something that you wouldn't want to mess around with.' [ Related: Giant lizards could keep flesh-eating maggots off Australia's sheep. ] Finding this new species of monstersaur indicates that there were probably many more kinds of big lizards roaming the Earth during the Late Cretaceous–just before the dinosaurs went extinct. Bolg's closest known relative, Gobiderma pulchrum, once stalked Asia's Gobi Desert. While paleontologists have long known that dinosaurs traveled between the once connected continents during the Late Cretaceous Period, Bolg reveals that smaller animals made similar treks. According to the team, this suggests common patterns of biogeography across land-dwelling vertebrates during this time. The specimens in this study were first uncovered in 2005 in the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This area overseen by the United States Bureau of Land Management has emerged as a paleontological hotspot over the past 25 years, producing dozens of new species. Discoveries like this also underscore the importance of keeping public lands in the United States safe for future scientific research. The team used tiny pieces of the skull, vertebrae, girdles, limbs, and the bony armor called osteoderms to identify this new species. 'What's really interesting about this holotype specimen of Bolg is that it's fragmentary, yes, but we have a broad sample of the skeleton preserved,' Woolley said. 'There's no overlapping bones—there's not two left hip bones or anything like that. So we can be confident that these remains likely belonged to a single individual.' Most of the fossil lizards that lived during the Age of Dinosaurs were even more fragmented. Only single isolated bones or teeth are left over. Even though Bolg was found in pieces, the parts of its skeleton that survived so many millions of years contain a treasure trove of information. 'That means more characteristics are available for us to assess and compared to similar-looking lizards,' said Woolley. 'Importantly, we can use those characteristics to understand this animal's evolutionary relationships and test hypotheses about where it fits on the lizard tree of life.' Paleontologist and co-author Randy Irmis from the University of Utah adds, 'Bolg is a great example of the importance of natural history museum collections. Although we knew the specimen was significant when it was discovered back in 2005, it took a specialist in lizard evolution like Hank to truly recognize its scientific importance, and take on the task of researching and scientifically describing this new species.' Woolley used Sindarin—the language Tolkien created for his elves—to craft the species epithet. 'Amon' means 'mound,' and 'dol' means 'head' in the Elvish language, referencing the mound-like osteoderms found on the skulls of Bolg and other monstersaurs. 'Bolg is a great sounding name. It's a goblin prince from The Hobbit, and I think of these lizards as goblin-like, especially looking at their skulls,' Woolley said in a statement. [ Related: Gila monster spit inspired a new way to detect rare pancreatic tumors. ] Some of the other fossils described in the study include well-armored skull bones. This indicates that the ancient, seasonally tropical forests that once covered present day southern Utah were home to at least three species of large, predatory lizards. This land was once part of a 'lost continent' called Laramidia. Laramidia formed about 99 million years ago, when an ancient shallow sea flooded central North America. The seaway split eastern and western portions of the continent for millions of years. 'Even though these lizards were large, their skeletons are quite rare, with most of their fossil record based on single bones and teeth,' said co-author Joe Sertich from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University. 'The exceptional record of big lizards from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may prove to be a normal part of dinosaur-dominated ecosystems from North America, filling key roles as smaller predators hunting down eggs and small animals in the forests of Laramidia.'


Geek Tyrant
29-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Tyrant
Embracer Transforms Into Fellowship Entertainment, Goes All-In on THE LORD OF THE RINGS — GeekTyrant
After years of buying up everything in sight, Embracer Group finally hit its breaking point last year. The once-expanding megacorp had grown too fast, too wide, and inevitably had to reassess its priorities before things completely fell apart. Now, in an interesting pivot, the company is rebranding itself as Fellowship Entertainment, with the future of Middle-earth at the center of its business strategy. Fellowship Entertainment is throwing its full weight behind The Lord of the Rings and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The company says its new focus will be on "creating and stewarding the works of J.R.R. Tolkien into different commercial and transmedia endeavors." That means everything from video games and merchandise to comics, movies, and who knows what else. The rebrand comes after a year of drastic restructuring. Embracer already spun off tabletop giant Asmodee in February 2025, and now it's making more cuts. The popular Coffee Stain Group (home to Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, and Satisfactory) will be spun off as a completely separate company by the end of the year. That division will also take Ghost Ship, Tuxedo Labs, and a few Amplifier Game Invest studios with it. But Fellowship Entertainment isn't just about hobbits and orcs. The company still retains the rights to major gaming IPs including Kingdom Come: Deliverance , Metro , Dead Island , Darksiders , Tomb Raider , and more. Studios like 4A Games, Aspyr Media, Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Dark Horse, Gunfire Games, Limited Run Games, Middle-earth Enterprises, THQ Nordic, Tripwire Interactive, and Warhorse Studios all fall under this new umbrella. That said, the spotlight is clearly shifting toward Tolkien's legendarium and that comes with big expectations. The legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien has always been handled with extreme care by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and the Tolkien Estate. There's hope that this new commercial direction won't lose sight of that literary foundation. Fellowship Entertainment says: "The journey doesn't end here. Renaming the brand is just another path, one that different labels may take." The next age of Middle-earth has begun, and it's corporate. Let's just hope the new stewards of the One IP to Rule Them All wield it wisely.


Express Tribune
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
New Zealand airport takes down hobbit themed eagle sculpture after 11 years aloft
Listen to article A pair of giant eagle sculptures inspired by "The Hobbit" will be removed from the ceiling of Wellington Airport on Friday, marking the end of a more than decade-long watch over visitors. The massive birds, which depict the creatures from JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels, were created by Wētā Workshop and installed in 2013 to coincide with the release of "The Hobbit" film trilogy by New Zealand director Sir Peter Jackson. Each eagle weighs 1.2 tonnes and has a wingspan of 15 metres. One features a sculpture of the wizard Gandalf riding on its back. The impressive creations are made from polystyrene with internal steel skeletons and hundreds of feathers, the longest measuring 2.4 metres. 'It's not unusual to see airborne departures from Wellington Airport, but in this case, it will be emotional for us,' said Matt Clarke, the airport's chief executive, in a statement. The sculptures are being removed to make space for a new, undisclosed installation, which the airport says will be 'locally themed' and developed in collaboration with Wētā Workshop. The eagles will be placed in storage. There are currently no long-term plans for their return. While the departure of the eagles may disappoint fans, the airport will continue to feature another familiar character from the fantasy world – Smaug the Magnificent. The dragon from "The Hobbit", remains on display near the check-in area. One of the eagles previously made headlines in 2014 when it fell during an earthquake. No injuries were reported. Details of the new exhibit are expected to be revealed later this year.


BBC News
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
New Zealand airport to remove Hobbit-themed eagle sculptures
For more than a decade, a pair of Hobbit-inspired eagle sculptures have cast a watchful eye over visitors at New Zealand's Wellington the giant birds will be unfastened from the ceiling on Friday to make way for a new mystery exhibit, airport authorities eagles appear as messengers in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which were adapted to film by New Zealand's Sir Peter spectacular New Zealand landscapes featured in Mr Jacson's films are a consistent draw for tourists, who are greeted at the airport by the eagle sculptures. "It's not unusual to see airborne departures from Wellington Airport, but in this case, it will be emotional for us," Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke said in a giant eagles will be placed in storage and there have not been long-term plans for eagle weighs 1.2 tonnes (1,200kg) with a wingspan of 15m (49ft). Riding on the back of one of the birds is a sculpture of the wizard, of polystyrene and with an internal steel skeleton, each eagle has hundreds of feathers, the longest one measuring 2.4m (8ft).While the iconic eagles will soon be gone, not all is lost for fans of the franchise: Smaug the Magnificent, the dragon in The Hobbit, will continue to be displayed at the check-in area. The eagles were unveiled in 2013, around the time of the release of The Hobbit trilogy. The giant sculptures were produced by Wētā Workshop, the New Zealand-based company that made costumes and props for The Lord of the Rings franchise."We're working with Wētā Workshop on some exciting plans for a unique, locally themed replacement to take their place," Mr Clarke said. "We'll unveil what's next later this year so keep watching the skies."In 2014, one of the eagles came crashing down during an earthquake. No one was injured in the from that accident.