Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien at Oxford, Oxonmoot. The Mythopoeic Society held its first Mythcon conference in 1970, which featured readings, a costume competition, an art show, and other events typical of science fiction conventions of the day. The works of Tolkien have served as the inspiration to many painters, musicians, film-makers and writers, to such an extent that Tolkien is sometimes seen as the "father" of the high fantasy genre. The production of such derivative works is sometimes of doubtful legality, because Tolkien's published works will remain copyrighted until 2043. The film, stage and merchandise rights of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the
J. R. R. Tolkien this origin of the name has not been proven. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State (now Free State Province in South Africa) to Arthur Reuel Tolkien (1857–1896), an English bank manager, and his wife Mabel, "née" Suffield (1870–1904). The couple had left England when Arthur was promoted to head the Bloemfontein office of the British bank for which he worked. Tolkien had one sibling, his younger brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, who was born on 17 February 1894. As a child, Tolkien was bitten by a large baboon spider