Belviso Meg - Who was J. R. R. Tolkien?

On January 3, 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born. Although his parents were English, he was born in South Africa. Ronalds father, Arthur, had come to South Africa to work at a bank. Ronalds little brother, Hilary, was born two years after him.

Life in South Africa was sometimes surprising. One day a neighbors pet monkeys climbed into the nursery and stole some of Ronalds clothes. One afternoon young Ronald met a tarantula in the garden. Any day could offer an adventure.

In April 1895, Ronalds mother, Mabel, took the boys on a long trip to her hometown of Birmingham, England, to stay with her sister Jane. Arthur had to stay behind in South Africa to work. He hoped to join them, but in November 1895, Arthur got sick with rheumatic fever. He couldnt make the trip.

By February, Arthur was still not well. Mabel and the boys planned to return to South Africa to be with him. On February 14, Ronalds nanny helped him write a letter to his father. Ronald thought that Arthur might no longer recognize him, hed grown so much. But before Ronald had a chance to mail his letter, the family got a telegram. Arthur had died and was already buried. Ronald would never see him or South Africa again.

The family moved to the town of Sarehole, outside Birmingham. Ronald came to love the countryside there, especially the trees. For him, they were living beings, like very old people who had seen much in their lives.

Mabel taught the boys at home. She read them lots of stories. Ronald liked the stories about dragons best. He even wrote one of his own when he was seven. Ronald thought that stories of magic and knights and dragons were better than stories about people in his own time. They were more heroic and exciting. Mabel knew Latin, the ancient language once spoken in Rome. She taught it to Ronald. He was fascinated by the sounds that made up the strange words. They made him think differently about his own language. Where did words come from? Why did English sound different from other languages? When Ronald listened to stories or wrote his own, he thought about the words he was hearing as much as he thought about what was happening in the story.

In the spring of 1900, Mabel shocked her father by announcing she and the boys were becoming Catholics. Mabels father was furious. Like many English people at that time, he didnt like Catholics. But Mabel stood firm. From now on, she and the boys were Catholic.

Ronald was now old enough to attend King Edwards School, where his father had gone. The school was in Birmingham, so he had to take the train each day. On his way, he saw railroad cars with strange words on them, such as Nantyglo and Senghenydd. Ronald thought these words were even stranger than Latin. The words were Welsha language spoken by the Celts, who lived in Great Britain long before. People in Wales still spoke Welsh, as well as English. The Welsh words on the boxcars reminded him of fairy tales and make-believe places.