1
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien,

2
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
was born on the 3rd January, 1892.

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He and his brother Hilary, experienced

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a difficult childhood; when Tolkien was

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
just four, they lost their father, Arthur,

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to rheumatic fever.

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
As a widow with low income, his mother

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Mabel, home school the brothers and played

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a vital role in their early education and

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
development.

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Tolkien was a smart young boy, with a

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
fascination and thirst for languages.

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Tolkien sat the entrance exam for King

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Edward's School, Birmingham and passed.

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
From the Autumn of 1900, for a fee of

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
12 pounds a year, Tolkien would be

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
educated in an environment that would help

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
fulfil his academic potential.

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Going to King Edward's was vitally

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
important to Tolkien; he was an

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
exceptionally talented boy. King Edward's

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
offered him a vast amount of scope and also

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the company of other boys who were

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
similarly talented.

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Which was probably quite hard fork Tolkien

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to find.

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Not only did he play rugby but he was a

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
leading light in the debating society and

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the literary society; he was the life and

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
soul really and he missed the school a

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
great deal, I think, when he finally had

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to leave.

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
At the age of just 11, Tolkien and his

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
brother Hilary, lose their mother, Mabel,

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to diabetes. Grief stricken, he plunges

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
himself into school life more energetically

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
than before. Academically he excels, but

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in 1905, meets his intellectual rival,

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Christopher Wiseman.