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Speaker 1: This year is the twenty fifth anniversary of the first

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Speaker 1: Lord of the Rings film, and it continues to be

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Speaker 1: a major success for this country. Tourism. New Zealand reckens

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Speaker 1: one in five visitors from the US come here because

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Speaker 1: of Lord of the Rings. Bruce Hopkins is a key

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Speaker 1: we actor who played Gambling in the original Lord of

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Speaker 1: the Rings trilogy and is with.

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Speaker 2: US high Bruce got how are you here? Man? Well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? Are you surprised to how many people still

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Speaker 1: come here from the US.

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Speaker 2: Just for this? Oh? It's astounding. Hey. I in fact,

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Speaker 2: I did my first ever. I did a bit of

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Speaker 2: tour guiding after the movies came out. I didn't want

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Speaker 2: to move try and move to La or any of

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Speaker 2: that stuff. I wanted to be with my kids because

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Speaker 2: they were still just coming up to their teen years,

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Speaker 2: and so I stuck around here. And as with most actors,

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Speaker 2: I had to do other work. And I realized I'd

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Speaker 2: get invited to fan conventions around the world, and I

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Speaker 2: realized they're all coming here. So I became a tour guide.

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Speaker 2: But I hadn't done any of that for a long time,

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Speaker 2: And then last two weeks ago, I got asked by

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Speaker 2: a tour company, just a company, a coach load of

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Speaker 2: people down to Hobbiton and they are Australians and it's

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Speaker 2: just astounding, Like half them you haven't seen the movies,

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Speaker 2: but they just love Hobbiton as a as a destination.

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Speaker 2: And I tell you the new Hobbit hole that i'd

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Speaker 2: heard about, this new Hobbit hole that's been completely built,

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Speaker 2: a whole Hobbit hole, not just the little frontages that

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Speaker 2: they used to have. It is astounding. Everyone that goes

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Speaker 2: in there wants to move in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well I'm hoping that can stand. And so it's

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Speaker 1: made for humans. Do you reckon?

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Speaker 2: Though?

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Speaker 1: With the new films coming out and all the stuff

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Speaker 1: that's going on that it's just going to keep this

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Speaker 1: tourism generating for us.

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Speaker 2: I had a crazy experience last year Heather I got

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Speaker 2: I hadn't gone to any I had wanted to go

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Speaker 2: to any fan conventions over the probably the last decade.

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Speaker 2: I'd sort of had other things that I was doing,

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Speaker 2: and I got invited to one last year in London

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Speaker 2: called the for the Love of Fantasy. Was the first

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Speaker 2: fan convention of any anything that he's been involved in

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Speaker 2: that Ian McCallen has ever gone to. So it was

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Speaker 2: Ian McAllen, Elijah, Andy, Sean, Sean Aston, myself, Billy and Dom.

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Speaker 2: It was just there were thousands there. Most of them

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Speaker 2: would have been in primary school when the movies came out.

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Speaker 2: So this just continues. It's the next generations. They just

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Speaker 2: it's Tolkien. It's the realm of Tolkien brings them in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, brilliant. I'm pleased to hear that. I'm happy for

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Speaker 1: all the money coming in. Bruce, look after yourself, Bruce

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Speaker 1: Hopkins Key. We actor for more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 2: Listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,

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