THE RETURN OF THE RING

Following on from my post about Eric Fraser's contributions to The Lord of the Rings, I've a less familiar Tolkien image for you today.

When on 17 July 1982, the BBC began its revised 13-episode broadcast of the radio dramatisation of Rings with which I was involved, The Radio Times commissioned another of its famous artists to create an illustration for the programme page – Robin Jacques.

Robin Jacques (who, incidentally, happened to be the brother of actress Hattie Jacques) was a prolific illustrator whose exquisite, painstakingly-detailed work decorated over 100 books, amongst them the fairy-tale and folklore collections compiled by Ruth Manning-Sanders, from which these are just a few examples...

Robin Jacques was also a frequent contributor to The Radio Times and I was delighted that he was chosen to introduce the second coming of the radio Rings with a picture of Frodo examining the One Ring while magic forces swirl around him...

Once again, I was fortunate in being able to purchase the original art...