J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and professor at the University of Oxford.  He was best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings.  The series was written in phases during the Second World War. The first book of the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring became the third best-selling novel ever written.  Over 150 million copies were sold.  The publisher advised Tolkien that it would be more economically profitable to release the story as three volumes over the course of a year.  Within each volume are comprised two books.  The stories have been reprinted many times and translated into a variety of languages.

On this day, October 20th, in 1955, the third and final volume of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released.  Tolkien felt that the name The Return of the King was too revealing of the plot and indicated to his publisher that he preferred the title to be The War of the Ring.

Tolkien’s work has had a great impact on modern fantasy and in 2001, the first film adaptation of the series was released to wide praise and acclaim.