John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (See inogolo:pronunciation of J.R.R. Tolkien. The position of the stress is not entirely fixed: stress on the second syllable (tolkien rather than tolkien) has been used by some members of the Tolkien family.) (3 January 1892 ? 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English language and literature from 1945...