J.R.R. Tolkien Author of ‘The Hobbit’ & ‘The Lord of the Rings’
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (modern-day South Africa), to Mabel Suffield and English bank manager Arthur Reuel Tolkien.
J.R.R. Tolkien was an English writer, philologist, and academic. What started as a bedtime story, which he narrated to his children, ‘The Hobbit’ became an award-winning novel, with hundreds of millions of fans from across the world. Described as ‘grew in the telling,’ the novel became one of his most-loved books along with his richly inventive epic tale series ‘The Lord of the Rings’ which was written in bits and pieces and sent as letters to his kids. J.R.R. Tolkien was an internationally acclaimed writer, most popular for his dark fantasy stories. His areas of expertise included Old English, poetry, literature, and mythology, inspired by early Germanic. Apart from novels, he also authored a series of short stories. It was due to his connection with fictional histories, fantasy writings, and constructed languages that he came to be known as the ‘father of modern fantasy literature.’ His epic tale series ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has been translated into more than 25 languages for readers across the world. Even after 50 years of its original publication, it has often been ranked among the best-loved stories created in the 20th century, along with ‘The Hobbit.’ These two novels have been adapted into award-winning blockbuster movies by Hollywood director Peter Jackson.
Awards & Achievements
The National University of Ireland’ and ‘University of Liege’ presented him with an honorary degree in 1954.
In 1972, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
His work ‘The Silmarillion’ won the ‘Locus Award’ for ‘Best Fantasy novel’ in 1978.
In 2002, he was ranked number 92 on the list of ‘100 Greatest Britons’ by ‘BBC.’ In 2004, he was placed at number 35 on SABC3’s ‘Great South Africans.’
‘The Lord of the Rings’ was adjudged UK’s ‘best-loved novel’ in a survey conducted by ‘BBC’ in 2003. Australians voted the book as ‘My Favorite Book’ in a poll conducted by the ‘Australian ABC’ in 2004.
He was placed sixth on the list of ‘The 50 greatest British writers since 1945’ which was published by ‘The Times’ in 2008.
In 2009, he was named as the fifth top-earning ‘dead celebrity’ by ‘Forbes.’
Happy Birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien