The university website has a press release on the research and also links to the full paper. There you will read:
The main findings concerning Middle Earth are that:
- The climate of Middle Earth has a similar distribution to that of Western Europe and North Africa.
- Mordor has an inhospitable climate, even ignoring the effects of Sauron - hot and dry with little vegetation.
- Ships sailing for the Undying Lands in the West set off from the Grey Havens due to the prevailing winds in that region.
- Much of Middle Earth would have been covered in dense forest if the landscape had not been altered by dragons, orcs, wizards etc.
- Lincolnshire or Leicestershire in the UK, or near Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand, have an annual-average climate very similar to that of The Shire.
The message is clear: come to Leicestershire for your elf's sake.
- Los Angeles and western Texas in the USA, and Alice Springs in Australia, have an annual-average climate very similar to that of Mordor
I always thought The Shire was based on rural Warwickshire.
ReplyDeleteMordor was based on the industrial West Midlands, which is why Peter Jackson should have given the orcs Brummie accents.
Totally OT but really funnyimho:
ReplyDeletewww.bmj.com/highwire/filestream/676962/field_highwire_article_pdf/0/bmj.f7255.full.pdf
"CHRISTMAS 2013: RESEARCH
Were James Bond’s drinks shaken because of alcohol induced tremor?"
Enjoy!
Greetings from your (lone ? faithful reader in Germany/Hungary!o
"Come to Leicestershire?" Or to Lincolnshire, surely?
ReplyDeleteAs long as you've got your elf.
ReplyDelete