It has to be a good forty-five years since I read these novels; I have had copies worming their way to the top of my 'to be read' pile for a while, but that's slow progress. So my knowledge of the books has had to come from the films; but for British readers of a Certain Age, the BBC Radio adaptation of 'the Lord of the Rings', dating from 1981, still occupies an important place in their affections. I first came to know this dramatisation through hearing the separate recording of Stephen Oliver's musical score, so when I saw the full set on offer at a very reasonable price indeed, I was happy to take the chance. And I'm pleased I did.

The dramatisation dates from 1981; but before I talk about that, there's an extra to consider. For in this boxed set of 19 CDs, you also get a 1960s BBC dramatisation of 'The Hobbit'. This was a horse of a rather different colour, reflecting the changes in dramatic presentation and acting styles in twenty-odd years. The LotR dramatisation still comes up as modern; but this Sixties 'Hobbit' sounds archaic. The actors fall into two categories; either they have plummy Home Counties accents, coming over as comfortable middle-aged men in cardigans; or they do silly voices. Some of the voices are VERY silly. Gandalf sounds like an accountant, Bilbo like an insurance salesman. The narration is achieved by a flashback dialogue between Bilbo and an unnamed interlocutor, which sounds rather forced. And the sound effects are equally uninspiring. If this recording were offered on its own, I could not recommend it. There is an additional disc of music for 'the Hobbit' which was performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London, so that's very worth hearing; but at little more than nine minutes of music, it can hardly stand up for itself.

Fortunately, in the twenty or so years between that dramatisation and that of LotR, a lot had changed - acting styles,. radio presentation, the technology of sound effects, the art of dramatisation and the attitude towards regional accents on the BBC. And it shows. Michael Horden's Gandalf is everything we have come to expect of a wizard; by turns avuncular, scolding, vulnerable and elemental. Ian Holm's Frodo Baggins and Bill Nighy's Samwise [amusing to hear the BBC continuity announcer keep on referring to him as "William Nighy"!], as well as many of the supporting and minor roles (especially the orcs) seem to have set the standard for the Tolkein sound world that Peter Jackson established in the films. Other players bring their own talents to the production in a different way; John le Mesurier, for example, was an interesting choice for Bilbo, but one which takes little getting used to.

The production also moved with the times, having been devised for stereo radio and making far better use of sound effects and voice manipulation. The CDs come even further up to date, in that the producers took a leaf out of Jackson's book and recorded a series of 'pick-ups', representing their thoughts over the years since the original broadcasts on how best to present the story. Interestingly, Ian Holm went straight from his performance as Bilbo in the Jackson films to recording pick-ups in the role of Frodo.

It is also interesting to see how the production differs from the films in terms of changes to the plot and timing that Jackson and his script team made to make the story hang together better as a visual spectacle. Some events were re-ordered in time; others were omitted altogether. The attitudes of some of the characters are also portrayed differently - the whole scene at 'The Prancing Pony' in Bree, for example, comes over with a very different atmosphere; in the film, it was a menacing, dangerous situation, whereas the radio production makes it sound quite neutral, or even rather welcoming. In the film, the threats to the halflings are all around, in the locals as well as the Black Riders; in the radio production, the inhabitants of Bree are not a part of the problem.

Jackson omitted the scourging of the Shire except as a vision of what might be, and killed Saruman off at the beginning of 'The return of the King'; the radio production returns these events to their proper order and place. On the other hand, the Ents' attack on Isengard mainly takes place off-stage in the radio version. There are other, lesser examples throughout.

Until Peter Jackson's films, the only media interpretations of LotR that were available were Ralph Bakshi's attempt at 'The Fellowship of the Ring' as animation, which had its good points but which was essentially unfinished; and this audio adaptation. I can recommend this adaptation wholly, with the proviso that 'The Hobbit' is more of a radio history curiosity. ( )