Tom Hanks hails Edinburgh bookshop owner as his hero

Tom Hanks typed a letter to Tom Hodges calling him his "hero"

An Edinburgh bookshop owner has been hailed a hero by Hollywood actor Tom Hanks for "keeping typewriters alive".

Tom Hodges typed a letter to the film star this summer and received a reply from the actor praising his work.

The 35-year-old has invited Hanks to visit his shop, Typewronger Books, while the National Museum of Scotland's typewriting exhibition is on show.

Mr Hodges, Scotland's only typewriter mechanic, said he was "overjoyed" to receive the letter.

He told BBC Scotland: "The reason this is cool for me is not the same as it is for everyone else.

"He might be a big Hollywood actor but for me it's all about his love of typewriters.

"There are a few typewriter geeks, such as Ben Aleshire in New Orleans and Luke Winter who has the Glasgow Story Wagon, but Tom Hanks gets the crown."

Tom Hanks has collected typewriters since he was a teenager

Mr Hodges typed the letter to Hanks about two months ago from his grandfather's old Remington Noiseless typewriter explaining all about his life and how he came to be a typewriter mechanic and "geek". He also inserted an origami dragon that he had made.

Mr Hodges said: "I told him how I had run away from Edinburgh to live a Bohemian life in Paris and lived as a Tumbleweed at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop.

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"It is a bookshop in Paris where you can sleep and live there. You turn up and if they have a space you can stay.

"The tradition there is to be kind to strangers lest they be angels in disguise. I arrived dressed like a mad parrot in all my colours and floor-length coat.

"I think it was a very good disguise as they let me stay. It has lots of nooks and crannies you can sleep in.

"They had old decrepit typewriters and it was there I taught myself to fix them so I could encourage the other Tumbleweeds to write on them."

The letter from Tom Hanks includes an x'd out mistake

On headed notepaper from the set of the Baz Luhrman-directed Elvis biopic, Hanks celebrated Mr Hodges for "battling against the giants to sell the best of books - and keep typewriters alive" as he hinted he may pay the capital a visit in the near future.

Mr Hodges said he was very curious when the letter arrived at his shop.

"I had no idea it was from him," he said. "I get letters from all over the world and then I saw the letterhead and thought 'interesting'.

"Then inside it said Tom Hodges you are my hero and I flipped to the bottom and there was Tom Hanks' name.

"It was a proper type-written letter with his mistakes x'd out.

"Typewriter mechanics hate Tipp-ex because it gets in the mechanics so it was great to see he had x'd out his mistakes instead."

A 1956 Smith-Corona typewriter autographed by Tom Hanks

Hanks' letter had the insignia of The King's notorious manager Colonel Tom Parker - set to be portrayed by the actor in the film due for release next year - as he wrote the letter from that set.

In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, Hanks said he had collected typewriters since he was a teenager.

At one point he had hundreds of the machines, which he described as "brilliant combinations of art and engineering." He now has 120.

Mr Hodges said: "I hope he gets to see the [typewriter] exhibition at one point.

"It would be lovely to meet him. He seems like a really wonderful man.

"I would want to talk to him about typewriters an awful lot.

"I'm overjoyed with his letter, it's a marvellous thing."