An entire race was born when J.R.R. Tolkien scrawled on a leaf, ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ From the invention of that single word (hobbit) Tolkien became the explorer and chronicler of the character, their race and their significant role in his fantastical world, Middle-earth.

Here in his latest book, Tolkien expert David Day unpicks the myriad of riddles, puns and mystical meanings in Tolkien’s works; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.