MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
The authorised biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, written by Humphrey Carpenter, an English biographer and BBC radio producer. After Tolkien's death in 1973, his family gave Carpenter access to his papers, diaries and letters, and he also interviewed friends and relatives.
The book follows Tolkien from his birth in South Africa and his childhood in Birmingham to his marriage with Edith, the First World War, his long academic career in Oxford, the Inklings and the writing of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It was published by George Allen & Unwin in May 1977, and in the United States as Tolkien: A Biography. It is still the standard account of Tolkien's life.
The authorised life of J.R.R. Tolkien, written with full access to his papers, from his childhood in Birmingham to his last years in Oxford.