EXAMS ARE DAUNTING enough at the best of times, so imagine if on top of having to do all that studying, you then had to face J.R.R. Tolkien as your English examiner.

Archivists at NUI Galway have uncovered summer exams from 1949 which list the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit author as an external examiner.

According to the NUIG Archives blog Tokien was the Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College in Oxford at the time of the Galway exams.

Topics featured on the 1949 papers included Shakespeare, the novels of Walter Scott, “poetic justice and the hard facts of life” and the preternatural in Literature.

We wonder if a bad mark led to Tolkien writing “you shall not pass”* on the exam papers?

*Sorry. We had to.

Christmas squee! Kids help to paint Dublin bookshop window>

9 retro Christmas gifts we all wanted>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More