One summer, when JRR Tolkien was tediously marking exam papers, he was pleased to see a student had left a blank page. Ironically, he was tempted to award extra marks for that, but instead scribbled on it the phrase: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." From that whimsical idea eventually sprang the world's most famous fantasy novels.
Far from England on a January day in 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa. His parents had moved there when his father got promoted to be manager of a bank in Bloemfontein, but fate curtailed the youngster's time on that continent.
At the age of three, his mother took him to England on a family visit. Unexpectedly, this turned into a relocation when her husband, Arthur Tolkien, died of rheumatic fever. The two moved to Sarehole, then a Worcestershire hamlet, and the bucolic English countryside in that region later became an inspiration for the home of hobbits.
A reader from the age of four, Tolkien was fascinated by languages. From an early age, he showed an aptitude for inventing new ones, having worked with a cousin on Nevbosh (New Nonsense) while a teenager.
Accordingly, he went on to study English at Oxford, later taking flak for not letting World War One interrupt his degree course, apart from some army training. Rather than join up and go off to fight immediately, he waited until after finishing his degree. Delaying duty to king and country had not been easy since it brought disapproval from some in the family.
He began military service in 1915 and was posted to France as a signals officer.
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Best of British.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Best of British.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
"A Personal Stab of Shock and Horror"
Chris Hallam looks back on the British reaction to President Kennedy's assassination
A BUILDING BONANZA
Claire Saul samples some of the entries in a new publication from the National Trust
ON TARGET
Russell Cook browses through 50 years of a publishing phenomenon
The Rise and Fall of Poole Pottery
Steve Annandale charts the history of what was, by the 1990s, Dorset's most significant tourist attraction
DOCTOR HO-HO!
Robert Ross takes a swift spin through some of the comedy stars who have stumbled into the Tardis
The Three Ronnies
Martin Handley celebrates the talents of a trio of composers
A RARE OLD SCRAMBLE
Colin Allan has fond memories of tuning in to Grandstand to watch scrambling on winter afternoons in the sport's golden age of the 1960s
THE ULTIMATE RESPONSE
Roger Harvey nominates a sculpture in his native Newcastle as the most poignant and powerful memorial to duty and heroism
POSTCARD FROM CHESHIRE
Bob Barton finds out about subsidence, timber-framed buildings, boat lifts, waterways and Lewis Carroll, taking it all with a pinch of salt
OVER HERE
Michael Foley looks back at how the people of East Anglia reacted to the American \"invasion\" during World War Two that saw the building of dozens of airfields
