125th anniversary of the birth of J R R Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings

British author J R R Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892, making 2017 the 125th anniversary of his birth. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was best known for his fantasy novels The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. In 2008, the Times newspaper ranked him 6th on a list of The 50 Greatest British Writers since 1945.

Tolkien was born in South Africa, and went to England when he was three years old with his mother and brother. His father was going to join them but died in South Africa of rheumatic fever. His mother stayed her parents in England.

With his cousins, he invented languages and linguistic creations. Tolkien would have called this anniversary his twelfthy-fifth.

He married Edith Bratt when he was 24 and she was 27. After serving as a soldier during the World War I, he turned to writing. His first job was at the Oxford English Dictionary, and he went on to become Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.

He wrote many stories for children, and The Hobbit was published in 1936. The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes from 1954-1955. The Silmarillion was published in 1977, after his death.

Peter Jackson adapted The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit into a highly successful film from 2001-2003, noted for the characterization of Tom Bombadil.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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