Today is author J.R.R. Tolkien’s 121st birthday! Famous for his LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and THE HOBBIT, Tolkien is considered the father of fantasy thanks to the fact that his best-selling stories about Middle-earth garnered more attention than any before him.
Born in South Africa and raised in England after the death of his father, Tolkien was schooled by his mother and had a keen interest in languages. He was taught Latin very early on making him a fluent reader by age four.
After World War I, when he served as a second lieutenant, Tolkien got a job at the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY where he researched the history of words that began with the letter W, and later became the youngest professor at the University of Leeds.
His success as a writer came by accident when an employee from a publishing house encouraged Tolkien to submit the manuscript for a story he had written for his own children called THE HOBBIT. This book became a success with both children and adults and publishers requested a sequel.
The sequel was the epic LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy which was incredibly popular from the beginning and continues to be popular today. Though Tolkien wrote other stories, they were published after his death in 1972 and none have been able to surpass the success of the LORD OF THE RINGS.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Tolkien created his first language by himself when he was eight years old. It was called Naffarin.
- He was a member of a writing club called The Inklings with NARIA author, C.S. Lewis.
- Once during his university days, Tolkien stole a city bus and took his friends for a joyride.
- When Tolkien’s son entered the army, he listed his father’s profession as “Wizard.”
- Ten-year-old Rayner Unwin was paid a shilling for his opinion of THE HOBBIT and his positive review got the book published.