<P> In a letter to Stanley Unwin, Tolkien called Tom Bombadil the spirit of the vanishing landscapes of Oxfordshire and Berkshire . However, this letter was in reference to works which pre-dated the writings of The Lord of The Rings . </P> <P> In most film and radio adaptations of the story, Bombadil is notable by his absence (an exception is the Mind's Eye recordings). Peter Jackson stated that the reason the character was omitted from his film was because, in his view and to his co-writers, Bombadil does little to advance the story, and would make their film unnecessarily long . Christopher Lee concurred, stating the scenes were left out to make time for showing Saruman's capture of Gandalf . Some of Bombadil's dialogue, as well as the scene in which the hobbits meet Old Man Willow, are transferred into scenes which Merry and Pippin share with Treebeard in Jackson's adaptation, included in the extended edition DVD . </P> <P> Although Tom Bombadil was not portrayed in Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, a Tom Bombadil card exists in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game by Decipher, Inc. (part of the trilogy's merchandise). The model portraying Bombadil on this card is Harry Wellerchew . </P> <P> Bombadil has appeared in a number of other adaptations, including the Mind's Eye radio adaptation . He was played by Norman Shelley in the 1955--1956 BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings . He was portrayed by Esko Hukkanen in the 1993 Finnish miniseries Hobitit . </P>

Who played tom bombadil in lord of the rings