The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien is a selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's letters published in 1981, edited by Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The selection contains 354 letters, dating between October 1914, when Tolkien was an undergraduate at Oxford, and 29 August 1973, four days before his death. The letters can be roughly divided in four categories: The last category is especially of interest to Tolkien fans, as it provides a lot of information about Middle-earth which cannot be found anywhere in the works published by Tolkien
J. R. Hartley J. R. Hartley J. R. Hartley is a fictional character in an advertisement promoting the British Yellow Pages, first shown in 1983 when British Telecom was privatised. The advertisement shows an elderly gentleman (acted by Norman Lumsden) asking in several second hand bookshops for ""Fly Fishing" by J. R. Hartley". No bookshop has it, and he goes home dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him the Yellow Pages; and one of the shops he phones has a copy. He is delighted. The unheard questioner asks for his name and he responds at dictation speed: 'My name? Oh, yes, it's J. R.