John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (b. January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, d. September 2, 1973 in Bournemouth) - English philologist and writer. As the author of the novel The Lord of the Rings, which takes place in a mythical world of Middle-earth, he became one of the forerunners of modern fantasy literature. He is the author of many stories taking place in a mythical world: novel The Hobbit, or There and back again, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion (not structured as a coherent whole narrative by Ronald - a book prepared for publication by his son Christopher Tolkien) and several short forms, stories unrelated or loosely associated with great mythology, the so-called. Middle-earth mythos (contained in the 12-volume History of the Middle-earth, developed and published by Christopher Tolkien). Source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ronald_Reuel_Tolkien