Before Lord of the Rings

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born to British colonial parents in South Africa in 1892. Arthur Reuel Tolkien was an official with the Bank of Africa. Mabel Suffield Tolkien did not like South Africa, describing the village where her husband was stationed as "Owlin' Wilderness! Horrid Waste!" Although Bloemfontein was the capital of the Orange Free State…