J.R.R. Tolkien: The Author
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (I hope I spelled that right!), the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Silmarillion, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa on January 3, 1892. He did not have the best of childhoods, since his parents both died while he was young, but he obviously was a very bright child. As a young boy, he entered King Edwards School after he had moved back to England, and in 1908, he began his first term at Oxford University. During the 1910s he served in the army in France during World War 1, but returned to England after suffering shell shock. He recovered, though. Soon, he began teaching at different universities and colleges throughout England, and in the 1930s he met C.S. Lewis, who would eventually
write his own series of fantasy tales, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Married, and with four children, Tolkien himself began telling stories to his children about funny creatures called hobbits. These stories developed into a fantasy novel, The Hobbit, which was finished in 1936 and published in 1937. In the 40s he continued to write more stories about this fantasy world called Middle-Earth, and The Lord Of The Rings was finished in 1948, published in the 1950s. As he became older, his books became more popular, and they were widely known about throughout the world. Although he died in 1972, his books are still very popular today.
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