Tolkien’s students were many and influential, and he also had many friends at Oxford as the years went by. Unusually, many of his best friends and best students were females whom he tutored; but he was also friends with dons and writers, including Mary Renault and Naomi Mitchison.
“Companions in Shipwreck” is a wonderful article that greatly illuminates Tolkien’s female friendships.
I found it through this wonderful new fan journal, Tolkien Gleanings issue 1. Gleanings is now accepting submissions for Issue 2.
Gleanings also notes that The Tolkien Journal, from 1965-1972, is now available at fanac.org as PDFs. Sweet!
Oh, and Colossal Cave is now going to be available in January, as a 3D graphics adventure instead of a 1970’s text adventure… and the old Sierra King’s Quest folks are doing it. So check it out on Steam. (Because it’s a “Moria” style computer game.)
Aliens in This World 