| 1892 |
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien born, 3 January, at Bloemfontein, South Africa |
| 1900 |
Begins to attend King Edward's School, Birmingham |
| 1908 |
Meets Edith Bratt |
| 1911 |
Formation of the 'T.C.B.S.' an informal club of Tolkien and his literary schoolmates;
enters Exeter College, Oxford |
| 1913 |
Awarded Second Class in Honour Moderations; begins to read for the Honours School of
English Language and Literature |
| 1915 |
Awarded First Class Honours; commissioned in the Lancshire Fusiliers |
| 1916 |
Marries Edith Bratt, 22 March; in June, embarks for France; Battle of the Somme; in
November, returns to England suffering from trench fever; begins to write his
'Silmarillion' mifology |
| 1917 |
Birth of eldest son, John |
| 1918 |
Joins the staff of the 'Oxford English Dictionary' |
| 1920 |
Appointed Reader in English Language at Leeds; birth of third son, Christopher |
| 1925 |
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (edited with E.V.Gordon) published;
elected Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford |
| 1926 |
Meets C.S.Lewis |
| 1929 |
Birth of daughter, Priscilla |
| 1933 |
Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, and other friends begin to meet as 'The Inklings', to whom Tolkien
reads his works-in-progress |
| 1936 |
Delivers British Academy lecture, 'Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics' |
| 1937 |
"The Hobbit" published; begins to write "The Lord of the Rings" |
| 1939 |
Delivers Andrew Lang Lecture, 'On Fairy-Stories' |
| 1945 |
Elected Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford; "Leaf by
Niggle" published |
| 1949 |
"Farmer Giles of Ham" published |
| 1953 |
"The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son' published |
| 1954 |
"The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Tower" (vols.1 and 2 of
"The Lord of the Rings") published; receives honorary degrees from thr National
University of Ireland and the University of Liege |
| 1955 |
"The Return of the King" (vol. 3 of "The Lord of the Rings")
published; delivers O'Donnell Lecture, 'English and Welsh' |
| 1959 |
Retires from his professorship |
| 1962 |
"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Ancrene Wisse" published |
| 1964 |
"Tree and Leaf" published |
| 1965 |
Ace Books and Ballantine Books publish paperback edition of "The Lord of the
Rings"; 'Tolkien cult' begins in the United States |
| 1967 |
"The Road Goes Ever On" (with Donald Swann) and "Smith of Wootton
Major" published |
| 1971 |
Edith Tolkien dies |
| 1972 |
Awarded C.B.E., receives honorary degree from Oxford University |
| 1973 |
Dies, 2 September, in Bournemouth |
| 1975 |
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo" published |
| 1976 |
"The Father Christmas Letters" published |
| 1977 |
"The Silmarillion" published |
| 1979 |
"Pictures by J.R.R.Tolkien" published |
| 1980 |
"Unfinished Tales" published |
| 1981 |
"Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien" published |
| 1983-... |
"The History of Middle-earth" published |
