Friday Book Quiz | Results

The gate at The Perch where Lewis Carrol
gave the first reading of Through the Looking Glass

The Eagle & Child at St. Giles-
famous Tolkien watering hole

Some of my most memorable moments from my university days, apart from the binge drinking foam parties at Park End (the shadiest club in Oxford), was when I found out the both C S Lewis and J R Tolkien had not only written their books at Oxford and were close friends during that time but that I could actually sit where they got piss drunk and had metaphysical conversations so many years ago while I did the same thing.  Perhaps not the most erudite reaction but hey I was 18!

The first thing I did when I went back recently was to retrace my steps. Oxford is cupboard filled with literary curiosities that would make any caterpillar rock but the most fun ones certainly belong to the hoards of  pubs that claim to be the watering hole of Tolkien and Lewis. If true, then Tolkien and Lewis really did knock back a few during their years there. Tolkien was at Exeter College, Oxford and Lewis was at University College and both came back to teach at Merton and Magdalen respectively.Lewis Carrol went to Christ Church and Aldous Huxley went to Balliol and there you have it.

Congrats to Firdaus Variava for getting it right. In the event you are in Oxford and you happen to be a fan, go to the Eagle and Child, sit in that corner and sip away. If you are a nerd like me, then I promise a small chill up your spine.