J. R. R. Tolkien own vehicular mishaps with his first car, purchased in 1932. The bears were based on toy bears owned by Tolkien's sons. Tolkien was both author and illustrator of the book. He submitted it to his publishers as a balm to readers who were hungry for more from him after the success of "The Hobbit". The lavish ink and coloured-pencil illustrations would have made production costs prohibitively expensive. Tolkien agreed to redraw the pictures in a simpler style, but then found he did not have time to do so. The book was published in 1982 as a facsimile of Tolkien's difficult-to-read
Tolkien family Royd also made a cameo appearance in the extended edition of the film "". He appears during a scene in which Beorn and Gandalf are discussing the catacombs where the Nazgûl were buried. Ruth Mary Reuel Tolkien is a great-granddaughter of J. R. R. Tolkien. She is the daughter of Michael George Reuel Tolkien. Ruth Tolkien is registered blind and is believed to be the only blind fencer competing against sighted opponents in British Fencing events. As of September 2015, she is ranked 186 in the UK by British Fencing. In October 2015 she was interviewed by Matthew Bannister on