J. R. R. Tolkien

January 03, 1892

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis —they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972. After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda, and Middle-Earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term “legendarium” to the larger part of these writings. While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the father of modern fantasy literature —or, more precisely, of high fantasy. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

Cast

J.R.R. Tolkien: Master of the Rings - The Definitive Guide to the World of the Rings

(Self (archive footage))

J.R.R.T. : A Study of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 1892-1973

(Self (archive footage))

Tolkien in Oxford

(Himself)

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Return of the King

(Self (archive footage))

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring

(Self (archive footage))

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Two Towers

(Self (archive footage))

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Hobbit

(Self (archive footage))

Tolkien: The True Story of the Rings

(Self (archive footage))

Wonderland: From JM Barrie to JRR Tolkien

(Self (archive footage))

Crew

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

(Novel)

The Lord of the Rings

(Novel)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(Novel)

The Hobbit

(Novel)

The Return of the King

(Novel)

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Two Towers

(Book)

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Hobbit

(Novel)

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Return of the King

(Book)

Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring

(Book)

Sagan om ringen

(Novel)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

(Novel)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

(Novel)

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit

(Novel)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

(Novel)

Dagor Dagorath

(Author)

Ranger

(Author)

The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit, Across the Wild Land, Through the Dark Forest, Beyond the Misty Mountains. There and Back Again

(Novel)