January 3: Happy Birthday J. R. R. Tolkien

https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/01/03/january-3-happy-birthday-mel-gibson-and-j-r-r-tolkien/

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) probably could never have imagined, in his days as a professor of English at Oxford, known for his translation of Beowulf, that he would have a huge impact on popular culture. This came, of course, through his classics of high fantasy: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and eventually The Silmarillion. Not only are they, especially The Lord of the Rings, immensely popular in themselves (to the point that over 200 million copies of Tolkien’s books have been sold worldwide), not only did they spawn highly successful film adaptations, but Tolkien had a huge influence on modern fantasy literature. Terry Brooks, Stephen Donaldson, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Guy Gavriel Kay, Dennis McKiernan, and Tad Williams are just a few of the better-known fantasy authors to work within what I like to call the “Tolkien template.”