TCG Letter #1396 / Carpenter Letter #74a

Writing to Christopher, Tolkien gives news of C.S. Lewis and his need for an operation to remove some shrapnel, which he says must have been in his arm since 1917. He had a pint with Charles Williams who had given him two chapters from the Lord of the Rings which Williams had typed for him.

In a portion of the letter which remains unpublished,^{see reference below to Chronology, p. 293[1]} Tolkien gives Christopher an account of a family of bullfinches which have nested close or in their garden at 20 Northmoor Road.