In 1920 Tolkien was appointed as Reader in the English Language at the University of Leeds, a post that was converted to a Professorship four years later. He distuinguished himself by his lively and imaginative teaching, and in 1925 was elected Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, where he worked with great skill and enthusiasm for many years. Indeed he was one of the most accomplished philologists that has ever been known. Meanwhile, his family, now numbering four children, encouraged Tolkien to use his mythological imagination to deal with more homely topics. For them he wrote and illustrated The Father Christmas Letters, and to them he told the story of The Hobbit published some years later in 1937 by Stanley Unwin, who then asked for a 'sequel'. At first, Tolkien applied himself only unwillingly to this task, but soon he was inspired, and what meant to be another book for children grew into The Lord of the Rings, truly a sequel to the Silmarillion than to the Hobbit. This huge story took twelve years to complete, and it was not published until Tolkien was approaching retirement. When it did reach print, its extraordinary popularity took him by surprise.

Tolkien died after a very brief illness on 2nd September 1973, leaving his great mythological van legendary cycle The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.

The Hobbit
The Epic tale of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures.
The Hobbit is Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of substance and somewhat sedentary habits. One day he is visited by a crusty wizard, Gandalf, and a gaggle of dwarves. By supper time he has accepted a challenge to go on an expedition to steal back a fortune from a live dragon, and liberate the ancient home of his companions. Fire and swords lie before him - but, fortunately, he doesn't know that. 

The Silmarillion
The Creation and earliest History of Middle-Earth
After J.R.R.Tolkien's death in 1973, his son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, followed his father's wishes and gathered up his notes and literary papers of almost 60 years of storytelling to form the history of the First Age of Middle-earth. This became Tolkien's hitherto unfinished The Silmarillion. A series of compact and elegaic episodes tells the story of the creation of Arda, the coming of Elves and Men to Middle-earth, and their war with the Great Enemy to save the early world from destruction. The Silmarillion contains the historic background to the world of The Lord of the Rings, including the tale of Beren and Lúthien, and the history and downfall of Numenor, the original home of the Dunedain. 

New Line Cinema have bought the rights for creating the Lord of the Rings movies and they have decided to make it a trilogy just like the book. The first part: The Fellowship of the Ring was released on December 19, 2002.  Followed by The Two Towers in December 2002 and Return of the King coming in 2003.