The “Bird and Baby” Grows Up: Inside the New Eagle & Child
5th December 2024
What do you get when the world’s third richest man buys Tolkien’s local? Oxford is about to find out.
The Eagle & Child is Oxford’s most storied inn. It was here that the Inklings met every Tuesday lunchtime – a writing group including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Hugo Dyson, a lecturer in English who infamously dismissed one plot twist in the Lord of the Rings with “Not another —ing elf!”.
Larry Ellison is the billionaire behind US database giant Oracle. He owns the sixth largest island in Hawaii, hired Steve Jobs as his wedding photographer, and was compared to a lawnmower by a disgruntled ex-Oracle engineer. He also doesn’t drink.All this makes him an unusual candidate for an Oxford pub landlord. But then the new Eagle & Child is going to be an unusual pub.