Tolkien fans from around the world (many of whom are fresh from the delights of this year's Worldcon Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow) have converged this week on Birmingham's Aston University for Tolkien 2005, a five-day conference held in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the full publication of The Lord of the Rings. The Guardian's Patrick Barkham took himself down there and found an arresting mix of scholarly discussion, buying and selling, and - yes - dressing up. Here's what he had to say.