Letter link: Carpenter #331a: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Patient in Broadmoor Hospital • December 1971 (#1509)

Joy Hill explained the situation of this patient in the 1974 BBC Radio Oxford tribute to Tolkien

What was so striking was that his interest in the various letters that came, now these were very diverse. Uh, [?royalty wrote], president's daughters, prisoners in jail, people in Broadmoor, mothers with sons on drugs, social workers who had no life outside their work and were being depressed by their work. And he took a great interest in the underdog. And this is particularly so with one person who was in an institution and was having nightmares as a result of reading Lord of the Rings. And I always, as a precaution, had to check up with the doctor or the ward sister in these cases because sometimes you've got people who write right to him and were so ill that the next day they forget they've ever written. But in this particular case, he wrote to the person in question. And continued to do so. And she progressed and he explained to her there was no need to be frightened and gave reasons why. And every Christmas he kept saying, Um, I've had a Christmas card from Miss X.