Tolkien 2005 Committee

René says that it would have been in 1972 that he first entered Middle-earth at the tender age of 11. He wanted to read the Dutch translation of The Lord of the Rings for no other reason than that it was a nice, fat book – the name Tolkien meant nothing to him. His elder brother told him he had to read The Hobbit first, which he duly did. To be honest he found it a bit boring, and that Baggins chap annoyed him no end! But The Lord of the Rings got him hooked; well, only after Bilbo was carted off to Rivendell...

He wanted to read everything else Tolkien had written, and started collecting; the first step on the slippery slope. In 1982 he joined the Dutch Tolkien Society – only a few months after its founding – became its chairman and, in 1986, founded The Tolkien Shop. At first only a mail-order service, but recently his shop became a 'real' bricks-and-mortar shop, here in his hometown of Leiden. He has so much space available that he could fulfil another ambition: to create a Tolkien museum with his private collection on show. So, if you are in the neighbourhood, do pay him a visit.