Eleventy-one birthday toast index

3rd January 2003 saw the eleventy-first (111th) anniversary of the birth of Professor Tolkien. This event, Bilbo’s age at the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, falls in The Tolkien Society’s 33rd anniversary year, our coming of age; thus the society is Frodo to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Bilbo at the Long-Expected Party (FotR chapter 1).

On January 3rd Tolkien fans around the world were invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author at 21:00 ("9 pm") local time.

The toast is "The Professor".

For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies:

To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.

Chris Crawshaw, the Chair of the Tolkien Society, which has members in 43 countries said I'm looking forwards to raising a glass of single malt to the memory of the Professor and in fellowship with fans around the world.

Disclaimer:

The words "us", "we" refer to the Tolkien Society and Josh Rubinstein, the co-ordinators of the Eleventy-One Birthday Toast project. The Tolkien Society is based in the United Kingdom and Josh Rubinstein is based in the USA. The information posted by anybody on the 'Eleventy-One' web pages will not be sold or passed on to any third party (outside of the context of the web pages and the organisers of these 'Eleventy-One' events). Except where somebody has registered their consent with us, information on the web pages will not be used beyond the life of the pages except for statistical purposes. By sending the participation form you give us permission to publish relevant information and to pass information between the organisations involved with the Eleventy-One Birthday Toast project. We reserve the right to contact anybody who supplies information. Whether any particular details are included on the web pages or not is at our sole discretion. We provide the web pages on the understanding that if you use them you do so at your own risk. We do not guarantee the accuracy of any of the information contained on the pages.

The organisers do not condone drinking alcohol if it endangers the health or safety of the drinker or others, or contravenes the law.

The Tolkien Society accepts no responsibility for the content or quality of any website other than its own.