The year 1992 is the centenary of the birth of J. R. R. Tolkien, renowned author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

In his lifetime Tolkien was both a distinguished academic and an exceptionally imaginative writer. Shortly after being awarded First Class Honours at Oxford University, he received a commission in the Lancashire Fusiliers and served in the trenches during the First World War. In 1916 he married Edith Bratt. He achieved a considerable reputation as a scholar, eventually becoming Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford.

His much loved adventure story for children, The Hobbit, was published in 1937. There followed in 1954 his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, which was set like many of his stories in the world of his invention, Middle-earth. The Silmarillion, a collection of legendary tales compiled over many years, was published posthumously.

Interest in Middle-earth grew to such an extent that Tolkien became a cult figure of the 1960s. He gained world status. To date, several million of his books have been sold in many different languages. He was awarded the CBE in 1972 and died a year later aged eighty-one.