Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien - five facts you might not know

The actor's old house 20 Northmoor Road is up for sale but crowdfunders have three months to raise the funds to turn the home into a Tolkien museum.

20 Northmoor Road

As the campaign gets under way, here are five facts you might not know about the author.

1: Tolkien loved writing Father Christmas letters to his children. He did it for many years and the letters and his accompanying drawings were collected and published in a book.

Read again: Sir Ian McKellen backs campaign to buy Tolkien's house

2: Tolkien was a student at Exeter College and fought in the trenches in the First World War.

Tolkien middle row second right at Exeter College

In June 1915, JRR Tolkien applied to join the Army at the Oxford recruiting office.

The following month he became a second lieutenant and was appointed to the 13th Service Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

In June 1916, Tolkien was shipped to France and his C Company was sent into action in the Battle of the Somme.

In July Tolkien served two five-day duties on the frontline. In October his battalion was inspected by Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander at the Battle of the Somme.

Tolkien with wife Edith and grandson Simon

Shortly afterwards, Tolkien suffered trench fever and was repatriated the following month.

In 1917, Tolkien faced a series of medical boards but was never declared fit enough to return to the frontline.

3: The Bodleian's Tolkien exhibition at the Weston Library in 2018 was a huge success and the biggest Tolkien show in a generation.

4: Tolkien also lived in a house in Headington, 76 Sandfield Road.

The Middle Earth author lived there for 15 years, and it has a stone plaque on the front which says: "JRR Tolkien lived here 1953-1968" next to a picture of a dragon and the words "The Hill".

Sir Ian McKellen with Louise Chantal of the Oxford Playhouse

5: Tolkien died in 1973 and he and his wife Edith are buried at Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford.