ABSTRACT
In 1940, while German bombs were being dropped on London, an eccentric Oxford professor by the name of J. R. R. Tolkien was pouring his vivid imagination and his extensive knowledge of Celtic and Norse mythology into a series of novels that later came to be known as The Lord of the Rings. When it was first published in 1954, the work attracted mixed reviews and generated tepid sales. The books failed to receive much attention in spite of the decision by the BBC in 1956 to dramatize the novel in 12 parts.
