J.R.R. Tolkien

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, vol. 134, pages 427-436. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

By 2004 his "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy [1954-1955] had sold more than 100 million copies and is the best selling fiction book of all time. It is the 3rd best selling book of all time after "The Bible" [c. 1451-1455] (more than 6 billion copies) and "Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-Tung" [1966] (900 million copies).

As of 2001, his novel, 'The Lord of the Rings', has sold over 52 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 25 different languages.

In 1999, 250,000 Amazon.com customers voted his The Lord of the Rings (first published 1954) as the "book of the millenium".

Locus magazine conducted a poll in 1987 from among its readers to vote for the Best All-time Fantasy Novel. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' (1955) and 'The Hobbit' (1934) won 1st and 2nd place respectively. They beat out classics like Alice in Wonderland (1865), Dracula (1897) & The Wizard of Oz (1900).

The British rock band Marillion, popular in the UK and Europe during the 1980s, took their name from his posthumously published collection 'The Silmarillion'. According to the band's original drummer, Mick Pointer: "Doug (Doug Irvine, the original bass player) was reading 'Silmarillion' at the time and I suggested that it would be a great name for the band".

The British progressive rock band Barclay James Harvest, popular in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, recorded a single record under the pseudonymous name of 'Bombadil' in 1972, and a song under their own name of BJH, titled 'Galadriel' on their second album 'Once Again' (1971). They found much inspiration from Tolkien's writings, having come from the Saddleworth country in northern England.

It was after LOTR was published in paperback in the United States in 1965 that he developed his legendary cult following and also imitators. Tolkien was W. P.

The first music inspired by his work was written by the English songwriting team of Donald Swann and Michael Flanders, who set poems from "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and other works to music and included them in their 1963 revue "At the Drop of a Hat". When an interviewer called Swann "elfin", he said, "Yes, and in the show, I sing in Elvish!" In 1970, Swedish keyboardist Bo Hansson recorded "Music Inspired by 'Lord of the Rings'", becoming the first in a series of pop artists to do so for the rock-oriented market.

Won the 'International Fantasy Award' in 1957 for his book 'The Lord of the Rings'. In 1973 he won the first 'Gandalf Award' (named after a character from his books) as Grandmaster (lifetime fantasy achivement). Posthumously he has been awarded the 'Locus Award' in 1978 for 'The Silmarillion' and the 'Mythopoeic Award' in 1981 for 'Unifinished Tales'. The 'Balrog Award' is also named after a character from his books.

In 1954 both the University of Liege and University College, Dublin, awarded him honorary doctorates.

Ker lecturer at Glasgow University in 1953.

In 1939 Tolkien gave the Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland titled: "On Fairy-Stories".

The landscapes and Nordic mythology of the Midlands may have been the source for Tolkien's fertile imagination to write about 'the Shire' and 'hobbits' in his later book the Hobbit (1937).

Tolkien will however be remembered most for his books the Hobbit (1937) and the Lord of the Rings (1954-55). The Hobbit began as a bedtime story for his children". He wrote Lord of the Rings over a period of about 14 years. Tolkien also discussed parts of his novels with fellow Oxfordian and fantasy writer CS Lewis during their 'meetings'. He was trying to create a fantasy world so that he could explain how he had invented certain languages, and in doing so created 'Middle-earth'. However among his peers at Oxford his works were not well received as they were not considered 'scholarly'.

He also wrote books on Chaucer (1934) and Beowulf (1937).

He then went on to Merton College in Oxford, where he became Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925-45) and Merton professor of English Language and Literature (1945-59).

His first scholarly publication was an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1925).

In 1920 he became a teacher in English at the University of Leeds.

in 1919.

Upon his return he worked as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary (1918-20) and took his M. A.

Tolkien served in the Lancashire Fusilliers in the first world war and fought in the Battle of the Somme. He was discharged in 1917 suffering from "trench fever".

In 1916 he fought in World War I with the Lancashire Fusiliers. It is believed that his experiences during the Battle of the Somne may have been fueled the darker side of his subsequent novels.

in 1915.

After his mother's death in 1904 he was looked after by Father Francis Xavier Morgan a RC priest of the Congregation of the Oratory. Tolkien was educated at King Edward VI school in Birmingham. He studied linguistics at Exeter College, Oxford, and took his B. A.

English writer, scholar and philologist, Tolkien's father was a bank manager in South Africa. Shortly before his father died (1896) his mother took him and his younger brother to his father's native village of Sarehole, near Birmingham, England.

Tolkien and his wife, Edith, are buried together in a single grave in the Catholic section of Wolvercote cemetery in the northern suburbs of Oxford. (The grave is well signposted from the entrance.) The legend on the headstone reads: "Edith Mary Tolkien, Lúthien, 1889-1971" and "John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892-1973". The character names are those of lovers in Tolkien's novel, 'The Silmarillion'.