J. R. R. Tolkien

May 08, 2020

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born 3rd January 1892 in Bloemfontein (in modern day South Africa.) His father was a British bank officer in Bloemfontein where he was born.

The family was on a vacation in England when his father died and at 12years he lost his mother as well. He was raised by Father Francis who was a very good father figure in his life.
He read books from a younger age including Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in wonderland. He studied English language and Literature at Oxford and graduated with first class honours.
Right from his youth he had a vast interest in learning and creating languages. Most of his adventures and love for nature reflected in his works.

He married his love, Edith and they were together for more than 50years before death part them 😪.
J. R. R. Tolkien couldn't escape WW1 which Britain joined in 1914. He served as a lieutenant despite his distaste for commanding men. He lost most of his friends in the war and he himself suffered health wise which removed him from battle front many times before he was retired. During one of his recoveries, he started writing.

One of the houses Tolkien lived.

He worked with Oxford English Dictionary, University of Leeds and many other schools.
J. R. R wrote tales for his children during Christmas most of which became publicized works, he was a very good father. The Hobbit started as a tale written for his own children before 1937 until he was convinced to submit it for publication. The success of the Hobbit required a sequel giving rise to Lord of the rings, a work which took 10 years and published in early 1950's. He became popular with his works b(others are, The Silmarillion, Unfinished tales..) but didn't ride on the celebrity status.

J. R. R made his views known and corrected misconceptions about his works. He was a devout Roman Catholic and friend of C. S Lewis (author of Chronicles of Narnia and others). Some of his works were published after his death in 1973 and he received many awards and appointments in his lifetime.
An author, academic, philologist, poet, (learned to draw and paint), J. R. R Tolkien was ranked by The Times in 2008, 6th on a list of "the greatest British writers since 1945." In 2009, Forbes ranked him the 5th top earning "dead celebrity."