John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

On January 3, 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Tolkien settled near Birmingham, England at the age of four after his father, a banker died in South Africa. He went to school at King Edward’s School in Birmingham and Exeter College. He later studied English language and literature at Oxford where he received a B.A. in 1915 and M.A. in 1919. Tolkien married his long time love, Edith Bratt in 1916. He served in the army briefly during World War I as a second lieutenant. After the War, Tolkien’s first civilian job was at The New English Dictionary better known as Oxford English Dictionary today where he worked on the history of words of Germanic origin. He spent most of his life teaching English language and literature at renowned universities such as Leeds (1920-1925) and Oxford (1925-1959). His influential 1936 lecture, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics opened new doors to research on Beowulf.

The Hobbit (1937), which Tolkien originally wrote for his children, narrates the story of a Hobbit, a small man like creature who set out on a quest for treasure. Gaining immense popularity, the book was published again with pictures drawn by Tolkien. The publisher convinced Tolkien to write a sequel which came 17 years later in the form of The Lord of The Rings (1954-1955). Although Tolkien intended to target it towards children as a sequel to The Hobbit, instead it turned out to be more serious and attracted a grown up readership. The Lord of The Rings has topped many lists and was named The Nation’s Best Loved Book after a survey conducted by BBC in 2003. Published in three volumes namely The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King were later adapted to screen by NewZealand director Peter Jackson in a series of three parts films in 2001-2003

J. R. R. Tolkien whose legacy continues even today through his masterpieces died on September 2, 1973.