http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien>John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) is the author of The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings.



He attended King Edward’s School, Birmingham and Oxford University; he worked as reader in English language at Leeds from 1920 to 1925, as professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and of English Language and Literature, also at Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was a strongly committed Catholic. He belonged to a literary discussion group called the Inklings, through which he enjoyed a close friendship with C. S. Lewis.