Interesting Facts- J. R. R. Tolkien

So tonight I have some short facts on the famous author. I'm writing a research paper on him, so next week, I'll hopefully be posting that so you guys can find out more about him.

A younger version.

• Was born in South Africa
• Met his wife, Edith, when he was 16 and she was 19. His guardian, Father Francis, forbade him from seeing her until he was twenty-one. So he waited until then, convinced her to break off an engagement with another man, and married her. 
• Fought in WWI. 
• Loved languages and was a professor at Oxford and other colleges. He loved Welsh and Finnish which inspired his Elvish languages. 
• He could speak and read Latin and Greek. 
• Had four children. 
• The Hobbit started out as a line on a blank paper a student didn't finish. He then wrote more of the story and read it to his kids. Eventually the story made its way to publishers. 
• Inspiration for his story about Beren and Luthien came from his wife and him. On thier gravestones, he has Beren under his name and Luthien under Edith's.
• He worked on the W section of the Oxford English dictionary. 
• He was best friends with C. S. Lewis and played a part in Lewis's conversation to Christianity. 
• The Lord of the Rings was popular enough (it had even been put into a condensed radio adaption on BBC) but it really took off when it went into a pirated paperback version in 1965. 

Videos

Also, here's some short videos on his life in case you can't wait for my research paper. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

So there ya go! 

Sincerely,

Sareh