TOLKIEN, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) (1892–1973) Author
of the *Hobbit and The *Lord of the Rings. He was descended from two English midland families (the Tolkiens had a German surname, but arrived in England many generations before his birth), though he was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where his father was working as a bank manager. At the age of three he was brought back to England by his mother for the sake of his own and his younger brother’s health, and while they were away from Bloemfontein the father, who had remained there, died of rheumatic fever. Tolkien’s mother was left poorly off, but she managed to make an attractive home for the boys at Sarehole Mill, a rural hamlet then on the southern edge of Birmingham. Tolkien’s childhood there, until the age of eight, left him with a love of the English countryside which permeates his writings. His mother, who gave him his early education, introduced him to the ... ...
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