J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 80 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Humphrey Carpenter was born in Oxford in 1946 and has spent most of his life in that city. He read English Language and Literature at Keble College, Oxford, and met Professor J.R.R. Tolkien on a number of occasions. For some years he worked for the BBC as a radio producer and broadcaster and has won acclaim as a top biographer, including the recent and controversial biography of Robert Runcie.

Christopher Tolkien, born on 24 November 1924, was the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. As his father's literary executor, he devoted over forty years to the publication of his father's unpublished works, from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales to Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin, and within 'The History of Middle-earth' series, and was awarded the Bodley Medal for his services to literature in 2016. He died in January 2020 at the age of 95.