Tolkien Enamoured

This month, Telegraph readers named New Zealand as their favourite country in the world. Royd Tolkien, great-grandson of the writer, is equally besotted. “When I was eight I fell in love for the first time,” Tolkien explains. “Miss Arnell was a supply teacher who stepped in to replace the grumpy, crabby Mrs Rogers. She was a breath of fresh air and every time I went home I longed to see her again. That is what New Zealand is to me. It’s my supply teacher/super model/A-list-star all rolled into one – the beautiful, breathless, love of my life.”