J. R. R. Tolkien was born on this date, January 3, in the long-ago year of 1892.
The Lord of the Rings has cast such a long shadow over his life that it’s easy to forget that Tolkien was a university professor. I wonder what it would have been like to take one of his classes.
Of course, there’s a good reason that TLotR has cast such a long shadow over Tolkien’s life. The thing is a masterpiece. It’s been well over a dozen years since I last read TLotR. I may try to fit it in sometime later this year if things let up a bit.