10 Interesting Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien

If you love to read novels and poems, then these following facts about J.R.R. Tolkien should be one of your favorite novelists and poets. As you know, J.R.R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist and university professor. He was best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works “The Hobbit”, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion”. If you’re one of fans of these novels, then you must also know their author. Yes, it’s J.R.R. Tolkien. To get to know more about him, here are other facts about J.R.R. Tolkien you may like.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 1: Inklings

He was also at one time a close friend of C.S. Lewis, the author of “Chronicles of Narnia” and were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as Inklings.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 2: Birthday

Born as John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien was born healthily on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 3: First Languages

Three of the first languages that Tolkien worked on as a child were Animalic. He explored this one with friends, and did not actually invent it himself. He found a word like “Nevbosh”, meaning “new nonsense” and “Naffarin”, the first language he worked on alone at age of eight or nine.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 4: Parents’ Death

By 1904, Tolkien and his brother were orphans. His father, Arthur, died of rheumatic fever in February of 1896. Mabel, their mother, died of complications from diabetes on 14 November 1904.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 5: Stealing Car

At one point during his first semester at Oxford, Tolkien stole a city bus as a prank, and took his friends on a joyride.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 6: Oxford English Dictionary

In 1918, Tolkien was hired to work on what was to become the Oxford English Dictionary. Started in 1879, by the time Tolkien joined the team they had finally reached the “W”s.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 7: Professorship

Tolkien earned a professorship at Oxford in 1925. At the time, it was very hard on earning a “professorship”. It’s only very few of the faculty which was able to get the opportunity. A high honor indeed.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 8: Clubs

Tolkien was a big fan of clubs. Two of the clubs he was a member of at Oxford were the “Coalbiters” and “The Inklings.” C.S. Lewis was one of the members of The Inklings.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 9: “The Hobbit” Reviewer

Rayner Unwin, age ten at the time, is the one who judged “The Hobbit” worthy of publishing. He was paid a shilling for his review. For the record, his father, Sir Stanley Unwin, was the director of publisher George Allen & Unwin at that point.

Facts about J.R.R. Tolkien 10: Wizard

When Tolkien’s son, Michael entered the army, he listed his father’s profession on his paperwork as “Wizard”. It would seem that Michael really understood his father.

Those following facts about J.R.R. Tolkien should be really interesting for you to read. Through Tolkien’s collection of works, you may also know what purpose he was aim to during his life and what kind of personality he was. Hope you would find these J.R.R. Tolkien facts really interesting and useful.