J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) Tolkien

Tolkien, J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) (1892–1973), English author and scholar, celebrated for The Hobbit (1937) and the trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954–56), which present a mythical world of elves and dwarfs, partly based on Anglo-Saxon and Norse folklore. Tolkien was professor of Anglo-Saxon, then of English, language and literature at Oxford University.