JRR_Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973).

A Professor of Anglo-saxon at Oxford University, his fascination with languages caused him to invent several languages; later elaborating an entire cosmogony and history of `Middle Earth' as

background.

His children's book, The Hobbit, achieved popularity; his most famous work was the richly inventive epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954-55), which, though using a couple of characters from the Hobbit, was intended for a much older audience, drawing upon the immense back-story of Middle Earth that he had constructed.

The Lord of the Rings was, judged both by sales and surveys of readers, one of the most popular works of fiction of the twentieth century.

Tolkien continued to work upon the history of Middle Earth until his death. His son Christopher organised some of this material into one volume, published as The Silmarillion (1977)