J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State in what is now England on the third of January 1892. Even as a child, Tolkien detested the effects of modern technology on the world. His father died when he was three years old. He loved languages; he studied Latin under his mother and was highly proficient in old English. His childhood consisted of exploring the countryside of Europe. He also helped “line the route” for the coronation parade of King George V. These experiences made it easier for Tolkien to transport himself into far off lands in the world of his imagination. His mother died at age 34 after being disowned by her family for converting to Catholicism four years before she died. At the time, Tolkien was 12 years old. Tolkien was then put into the care of Father Francis Xavier Morgan. At age 16, Tolkien met Edith Mary Bratt, also an orphan, who was 19 at the time. When Tolkien’s guardian, Father Francis Morgan, found out he was courting a protestant he forbade him to see her until he was twenty-one years old. In the intervening time, Tolkien focused all of his time on his schoolwork. However, on the evening of his twenty-first birthday Tolkien wrote to Edith proclaiming his love and asking if she would marry him. Edith wrote back telling Tolkien that she was already engaged to another man because she was under the impression that Tolkien forgot about her. They reunited under the shelter of a railroad bridge. A few days later Edith returned her ring and proclaimed that she loved Tolkien. They where married three years later, on March twenty-second 1916. Then came World War 1. Tolkien was commissioned by the British army three months after he was married. On October 19, 1916, he caught trench fever. He was deemed unfit for general duty five months later. The war had stripped Tolkien of all, save one, of his closest friends. When he returned home from the war, he started writing “The Book of Lost Tales,” the beginnings of “The Lord of the Rings.” At this time, he had his first child, J.F.R. Tolkien. By 1948, J.R.R. Tolkien had finished “The Lord of the Rings.” From 1959 until 1973, Tolkien continued to receive growing attention from his fans and was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II one month after the death of Edith in 1971. He died two years later.