J. R. R. Tolkien J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, (; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and "The Silmarillion". He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both
The Lord of the Rings (1955 radio series) the B.B.C." ("The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien", Letter 198, 19 June 1957) The Lord of the Rings (1955 radio series) During 1955 and 1956, a condensed radio dramatisation of "The Lord of the Rings" was broadcast in twelve episodes on BBC Radio's the Third Programme. These radio broadcasts were the first dramatisation of "The Lord of the Rings", a book by J. R. R. Tolkien, the final volume of which, "The Return of the King", had been published in October 1955. Since the BBC did not generally keep long-term archives of its productions at that time, no copies