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4 Culture Page

A Great British Writer: J R R Tolkien

A A What do you know about the writer Tolkien?
Listen, read and find out more.

any people believe that J R R Tolkien (1892-1973) was one
Mof the most important British writers of all time. He wrote
fantasy books, and his most famous ones are The Hobbit and The
Lord of the Rings. These stories take place in a land called Middle
Earth. Because Tolkien wrote exciting stories in so much detail, his
books were and still are very popular around the world.
© MM Publications
Tolkien was also a teacher. In fact, the idea for The Hobbit came
to him while he was reading his students’ test papers. In one test,
he found a page with nothing on it, so he wrote the fi rst line of his
book – about the main character, a hobbit. This hobbit lives in a
very quiet place called the Shire, but has all kinds of adventures.

Tolkien loved languages, and he invented his own languages for
the characters in his stories. One of these was Quenya. Tolkien
wanted Quenya to sound beautiful, and his fans certainly thought it
was. Many people got into groups to learn this language and speak
it with their friends. Some people even studied it at university!
Today Tolkien’s books are more popular than ever. Now there
are fi lms of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as Did you know?
performances, musicals and video games. There’s even The Lord Writers of fantasy books often
of the Rings Online, a computer game that takes place in Tolkien’s invent new names and strange
world. Also, many of today’s fantasy books, video games and fi lms words to use in their stories.
borrow ideas from Tolkien’s work.
Over to you...

Discuss.
Have you read any of Tolkien’s
books? Have you seen the films
B Find the words below in the text. The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings?
What are they? Match. If yes, what did you think of them?
If no, would you like to?
1. Middle Earth
a. a language
2. hobbit
b. a character
3. Quenya
c. a computer game
PROJECT
4. The Lord of the Rings d. a land P RO JE CT
Online
Write a short biography!
C Read again and write T for True or F for False. Choose a writer and do some research on
some of the following questions.
1. Tolkien’s books only became • When and where was the writer born?
popular in recent years.
• What interesting facts do you know about
2. One of Tolkien’s students his/her life?
wrote the irst line of The Hobbit.
• What kind of books does/did he/she write?
3. Tolkien invented Quenya • What are some of his/her most famous
to teach to his fans. books? Why are they so famous?
4. Modern fantasy writers often • Have any of them been made into fi lms?
use some of Tolkien’s ideas.
Write the short biography.
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