I guess it is well known that PTerry wrote to JRRT when he was a young journalist...for those who weren't aware, and haven't managed to see the Tolkien Exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum, here is a post about the letter, which although is not on display in the exhibit, is published in the accompanying book (Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth p102):
An excerpt from the adjoining page:
When Tolkien was an old man he wrote a short story called Smith of Wootton Major. He described it as being ‘written with deep emotion, partly drawn from my own experience of the bereavement of “retirement”, and of advancing age.’ The first fan letter he received in response to this work came from a young Terry Pratchett, who was already making a living from writing as a journalist on a local newspaper, The Bucks Free Press. Although only nineteen years old, Pratchett grasped the depth of feeling in the book and also the sense of bereavement that lay behind it. He wrote to Tolkien, ‘An odd feeling of grief overcame me as I read it.’ As with most of his fan mail Tolkien wrote a personal reply: ‘You evidently feel about the story very much as I do myself. I can hardly say more.’
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