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There are some names that just fall off the tongue with the lilting promise of great things, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (usually abbreviated to JRR Tolkien) is a perfect example. In his own lifetime this softly spoken, pipe smoking, tweed clad Oxford College Professor, the quintessential Englishman, caused a tremendous stir when he wrote first "The Hobbit" and then "The Lord of the Rings". But Tolkien could never have guessed the impact his beloved books would continue to have on future generations of listeners, and since Peter Jackson's wonderful 21st Century movie adaptations filmgoers and even computer gamers as well! Whether JRR would have approved of all this modern technology, is as you are about to discover, debatable. However, the adulation of millions of grateful fans might just have won him over.

Most people could tell you that "The Lord of the Rings" was written by JRR Tolkien, but who the man behind the great epic was, few would even be able to hazard a guess. This is due in part to Tolkien's very private nature and the fact that when he died, he was, quite simply, a pleasantly successful English author, no more, no less. Those who loved his books did so with a passion, but there were also plenty of dissenters. The huge cult status of "The Lord of the Rings" did not fully evolve until some years after Tolkien's death and therefore there are few publicity pictures of him, and unlike J K Rowling, (rolling) the world-famous author of the Harry Potter books, JRR Tolkien never became a celebrity.

Now, unless your name's Rip Van Winkle and you've been asleep for the last twenty years, even if you've never read "The Lord of the Rings" you'll know it's all about adventure with a capital "A", on an incredible journey of discovery. And that's all the background info you're going to need to enjoy this Tolkien Journal. With the people and places that inspired JRR to write such an incredible piece of fiction this will prove to be an equally enlightening pathway to travel, uncovering a real-life character way more complex than Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Ents, Dwarves and Wizards put together!