There have been rumors circulating that Ian Holm and Elijah Wood are in London, presumably for some filming on The Hobbit. Given that Christopher Lee is in the cast and had previously said that he would not take the very long trip to New Zealand, there is an assumption that his scenes are being done there as well. (Frodo and Bibo never encounter Saruman in the LR film or the Hobbit book, so it seems unlikely that they’re doing scenes together.)

Today Der Herr der Ringe website says there have been sightings of Peter Jackson in London. Moreover, on July 7, two photos of Peter Jackson beside a car parked outside The Soho Hotel were posted here and here (in a Peter Jackson file on contactmusic.com).

What all this adds up to is still to be seen. In case it’s relevant, Soho is an area of London where a lot of film distribution offices and film-production facilities are located. Not shooting studios, but places where sound recording, special effects, editing, and so on happen.

(Thanks to Paulo Pereira for the heads-up on these!)

The Birmingham Post reports that PeterJackson has written a letter praising a small English library for its support of J. R. R. Tolkien’s writings: “I am very pleased that you have taken it upon yourselves to join with the community of Tolkien fans around Britain and the world, to celebrate and education people in all matters Tolkien.”

The Penridge Library is located near Stafford in Staffordshire, an area where Tolkien spent part of World War I:

Tolkien was stationed at Cannock Chase during the First World War and lived in the villages of Great Haywood and Penkridge.

The landscape of the Chase is widely thought to have influenced his vision of Middle Earth.

The letter has been placed in the library’s collection of Tolkien-related items.