Timeline

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

This is a timeline using modern years. For a middle earth timeline, see Timeline of Arda

• 1892 — John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is born on January 3rd, in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
• 1916 — J.R.R. Tolkien marries Edith Bratt on March 22nd. In June, he is assigned to the Lancaster Fusiliers and sent to France.
• 1917 — Edith Tolkien gives birth to John.
• Circa 1918 — First draft of "The Fall of Gondolin" is completed.
• 1920 — Edith Tolkien gives birth to Michael
• 1921 — J.R.R. Tolkien begins teaching at the Unversity of Leeds.
• 1924 — Edith Tolkien gives birth to Christopher. J.R.R. accepts a position as Professor of English Language at Leeds.
• 1925 — J.R.R. Tolkien and his family move to Oxford. He becomes the Rawlingson Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College. His translation (with E.V. Gordon) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is published.
• 1926 — J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis first meet.
• Sometimes in the late 1920s -- Tolkien writes the words "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit" on the back of a term paper. He does not know what they mean.
• 1929 — Edith Tolkien gives birth to Priscilla.
• 1933 — The first stories of a hobbit named Bilbo appear at the Tolkien house.
• 1936 — J.R.R. Tolkien completes The Hobbit and delivers it to Stanley Unwin. He also delivers his seminal lecture, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics to the British Association.
• 1937 — The Hobbit is published by Unwin & Associates.
• 1938 — J.R.R. Tolkien writes "Leaf by Niggle."
• 1939 — J.R.R. Tolkien delivers his lecture, "On Fairy-Stories."
• 1945 — J.R.R. Tolkien becomes the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University.
• 1948 — "Leaf by Niggle" is published. Around this time, The Lord of the Rings is completed.
• 1949 — Farmer Giles of Ham is published.
• 1954 — The Lord of the Rings is published. Only the first two volumes, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, are released this year.
• 1955 — The final volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is published.
• 1956 — The BBC produces a 13-part radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
• 1959 -- J.R.R. Tolkien retires his professorship at Oxford.
• 1962 -- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is published.
• 1964 -- Tree and Leaf, a single edition of both "Leaf by Niggle" and "On Fairy-Stories," is published.
• 1965 -- American paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings is published.
• 1967 — Publication of both The Road Goes Ever ON and Smith of Wotton Major.
• 1968 — The Tolkien family moves to Poole near Bournesmouth.
• 1971 — Edith Tolkien dies on November 29th.
• 1972 — J.R.R. Tolkien named CBE by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1973 — J.R.R. Tolkien dies on September 2nd.
• 1977 — The Silmarillion is published posthumously, edited by Christopher Tolkien. Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay is credited with assisting Christopher. Rankin-Bass studios produced the first real film adaptation of any of Tolkien's works with an animated television version of The Hobbit.
• 1980 — Animated television version of The Return of the King airs.
• 1981 — BBC broadcasts a new, ambitious dramatization of The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour instalments.
• 1982 — Unfinished Tales, a collection of essays about Middle-earth edited by Christopher Tolkien, is published.
• 2001 — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three motion films directed by Peter Jackson, premieres on December 19th.
• 2002 — The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers premieres on December 18th.
• 2003 — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King premieres on December 17th.
• 2004 — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King receives 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
• 2007 — Christopher Tolkien's The Children of Hurin published.