Its emergence was described thus by Tolkien in a letter of 25 June 1925: during this last session a course of voluntary reading of texts not specially considered in the current syllabus has attracted more than fifteen students, not all of them from the linguistic side of the department.
An active discussion-class has been conducted, on lines more familiar in schools of literature than of language, which has borne fruit in friendly rivalry and open debate with the corresponding literary assembly.
A Viking Club has even been formed, by past and present students of Old Icelandic, which promises to carry on the same kind of activity independently of the staff.
[1]Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond judged that the Club was founded "probably in 1922",[2] while Alaric Hall has situated its foundation in the academic year 1924–1925.
[4] Members of the club also invented original songs and poems in Old English, Gothic, Old Norse and other Germanic languages.