Bilbo's Iconic Speech

Last year, I had the pleasure of reading Bilbo's Iconic Birthday Speech at a meeting of my local Tolkien Society. Here is a recording of that speech for your amusement.

"My dear people. My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, and Proudfoots. Also, my good Sackville-Bagginses, that I welcome back at last to Bag End. Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today! I hope you are enjoying yourselves as much as I am. I shall not keep you long; I have called you all together for a purpose. Indeed, for three purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. Together we score one hundred and forty-four. Your numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: one gross, if I may use the expression. It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; thought the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. I was fifty-one then, and birthdays did not seem so important. The banquet was very splendid, however, though I had a bad cold at the time, I remember, and could only say 'Thag you very buch'. I now repeat it more correctly: Thank you very much for coming to my little party. Thirdly and finally, I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT! I regret to announce that, though as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you, this is the END! I am going. I am leaving NOW! GOODBYE

As read by Darryl Houston Smith