The Hobbit, performed by Nicol Williamson

[Jez]

I didn't grow up reading The Hobbit, I grew up listening to it after my aunt handed me three battered cassette tapes of the show, recorded when broadcast on ABC Radio maaaaaaaany moons ago. It's the definitive version for me; Nicol Williamson (you'll know him best as Merlin from that old Excalibur movie) narrates and performs all the characters and is fricken brilliant at it too. It is slightly trimmed; mainly a lot of "he said, she said" has been excised so that it reads more like a live performance, but also some of the waffle. It still clocks in at around 4 hours (PJ, you should have taken note), and is (to me anyway) just fantastic. Years after I lost the cassettes I managed to track down the 4 album LP, and converted to MP3 with a chorus of snap crackle pop and hissing. And then a few months ago I found this: the entire recording in pristine condition, available to all through the Internet Archive.

I hope you like it:

https://archive.org/details/NicolWillia ... sTheHobbit

[Francesco]

Merlin reading The Hobbit! Can't get better than this for me, I always loved Nicol Williamson's voice in Excalibur, since when I finally got to see the movie in its original version.

A great thank you!

Francesco
P.S.: I started listening to it, and I can't help but think that Ian McKellan must have listened to it too!

[Rich H]

The is brilliant!

Is there anyway of downloading them? I'd love to listen to them on my way to work in the mornings.

[Yusei]

Those are links to the actual files, so you can download them with tools like wget or curl. Depending on your browser, you can probably right click on the audio player to download the audio file.

[Rich H]

Ha! 'Sauroned' my Awareness roll there - didn't scroll down the page to spot the files!

[Elmoth]

Is there anywhere where we can have them all as a single audio archive to download? or on a ZIP file divided by audio files?

[Hermes Serpent]

Elmoth, same page, scroll down to the Torrent link and you can get them all in both the ogg and mp3 format. You'll need a torrent client but a smart lad like you probably has one already

[Rich H]

... Thanks again for this.

I've listened to a fair bit of it now and definitely prefer it to the BBC adaption and also the reading by Rob Ingliss.

Great stuff!

[Rich H]

I always loved Nicol Williamson's voice in Excalibur, since when I finally got to see the movie in its original version.

Yeah, great film all round considering the run time and the subject matter/material that needed to be covered. The production did a great job trying to accommodate all the key elements of Arthurian legend. And Nicol was brilliant as Merlin - some great lines.

Indulge me...

Merlin: STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there that night, with Arthur, the King!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.

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Merlin: Now look, I once stood exposed to the Dragon's Breath so that a man could lie one night with a woman. It took me nine moons to recover. And all for this lunacy called, "love", this mad distemper that strikes down both beggar and king. Never again. Never.

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Arthur: Merlin, where are you going?
Merlin: Where do you think? You have a kingdom to rule.
Arthur: But how? I don't know how.
Merlin: You knew how to draw the sword from the stone.
Arthur: That was easy.
Merlin: Was it? I couldn't have done it.

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Merlin: It is a lonely life, the way of the necromancer... oh, yes. Lacrimae Mundi - the tears of the world.

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Merlin: Remember, there's always something cleverer than yourself.

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Merlin: You're not listening... well, your heart is not. Love is deaf as well as blind. That's it.
Merlin: Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you've tasted it what do you really know? And then, of course, it's too late.
[Arthur takes a bite]
Merlin: Too late.

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Merlin: When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.

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Merlin: But a King should be afraid, Arthur, always... of the enemy. Waiting, everywhere. In the corridors of his castle, on the deer-paths of his forests, or in a more tangled forest... in here.
[taps his head with his finger]

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Merlin: You brought me back. Your love brought me back. Back to where you are now. In the land of dreams.
Arthur: Are you a dream, Merlin?
Merlin: [softly] A dream to some.
[Yelling]
Merlin: A nightmare to others.

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Merlin: The future has taken root in the present.

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Merlin: I have walked my way since the beginning of time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, it is mine to know which and when!

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Merlin: Show the sword! Behold! The Sword of Power! Excalibur! Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one with man, and death was but a dream!

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Arthur: Where hides evil in my kingdom, then?
Merlin: Always... where you never expect it. Always.

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Merlin: What are you afraid of?
Arthur: I don't know.
Merlin: Shall I tell you what's out there?
Arthur: Yes, please.
Merlin: The Dragon. A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and all complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.
Arthur: Where is it?
Merlin: It is everywhere! It is everything! Its scales glisten in the bark of trees, its roar is heard in the wind! And its forked tongue strikes like... like...
[lightning strikes near their feet]
Merlin: Whoa! Like lightning! Yes, that's it.
Arthur: How can I...? What should I...? Must I...?
Merlin: Do nothing. Be still. Sleep. Rest in the arms of the Dragon. Dream.

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Merlin: The days of our kind are numberèd. The one God comes to drive out the many gods. The spirits of wood and stream grow silent. It's the way of things. Yes... it's a time for men, and their ways.

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Merlin: Look into the eyes of the dragon and despair!

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And not so much a Merlin quote but my favourite bit in the film...

Arthur: Swear faith to me, and you shall have mercy! I need battle lords such as you!
Uryenes: [scornfully] A noble knight swear faith to a squire?
Mador: NEVER... NEVER!
Arthur: You are right.
Arthur: You're right... I'm not yet a knight.
[Hands Excalibur to Uyrenes and kneels]
Arthur: You, Uryenes, will make me a knight. Then as knight to knight... I can offer you mercy.
Merlin: [Alarmed] What's this? What's this?
Mador: Keep it, Uryenes!
Uryenes: [hesitates and then touches Excalibur to Arthur's shoulder] In the name of God, St Michael and St George, I give you the right to bear arms and the power to mete justice!
Arthur: That duty I will solemnly obey, as knight and king.
Merlin: I never saw this.
Uryenes: Rise... King Arthur.
[Uryenes kneels before Arthur]
Uryenes: I am your humble knight, and I swear allegiance to the courage in your veins. So strong it is, its source must be Uther Pendragon's. I doubt you no more!
[kisses Arthur's hand - other knights also kneel]

... I swear, give that choice to a PC and they'd have kept Excalibur and probably lopped off Arthur's head into the bargain! (Mador is obviously a PC - "Keep it, Uryenes!")

Some great quotes though.

[Francesco]

…stop it Rich, I've got work to do. I can't drop everything and go see the movie again!

Francesco