IN 1896 a young boy arrived in Southampton from South Africa who would grow up to venture deep into a fictional universe populated by Orcs, trolls, elves, dragons, and, most famously, Hobbits.

At the time, little did John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, creator of the fantasy world of Middle-earth and the remarkable storyteller of The Lord of the Rings as well as The Hobbit, realise, as he stepped ashore, the number of occasions Southampton and Hampshire would figure in his life.

Tolkien was to have a close relationship with the south and in later life retired to Bournemouth where he lived for some years, and where he would die in 1973 while on a visit to see friends.

Better known by his initials, JRR Tolkien’s magical tales have achieved cult status and are now read by millions around the globe, while the trio of films recounting the pre-historic chronicles of The Lord of the Rings, together with the newly released hit movie, The Hobbit have brought his sorcerous legends to a new generation of fans.

The works of Tolkien are full of stories about seafarers and their voyages and the port of Southampton has a special claim as the city with the closest links to the author’s own ocean journeys.

The author’s links with this part of the country have been recalled by the appearance of a new book entitled Amazing and Extraordinary Facts, JRR Tolkien, by Colin Duriez, which has recently been published.

Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Tolkien’s mother, Mabel brought her son to Southampton on board the liner, SS Guelph, soon after her husband died.

Some Tolkien enthusiasts believe the author used Southampton as the inspiration for “Southfarthing”, a part of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings where strong red wine called Old Winyards is produced.

Although Tolkien was only a youngster when he and his family arrived in Southampton, it may be that the grey stones of the historic city walls lingered as a distant memory to be recalled in his naming of the Grey Havens, significantly a seaport, in the same book.

By the time the First World War began, Tolkien was studying English and literature at Oxford University but in 1915 he was commissioned into the Army as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Tolkien returned to Southampton, embarking on a ship which would take him to France and the horrors of the Western Front.

He arrived just in time to take part in the notorious Somme offensive, and, after four months in and out of the trenches, he succumbed to “trench fever”, a form of typhus-like infection common in the insanitary conditions.

Tolkien was taken to the French port of Le Havre, where he joined the hospital ship, Asturius, which took him back to Southampton for hospital treatment.

During peacetime, Asturius, built in 1907 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, operated between Southampton and South America but when war was declared she was requisitioned by the Admiralty.

Within a few months she was handed over to the Army and was soon employed making regular crossings to France carrying back the wounded from the Western Front.

Following the end of the conflict, Tolkien took up an academic and writing career, with The Hobbit, a story he had written originally for his own family, appearing in the mid-1930s.

However, the book attracted adult readers as well as children, and it became popular enough for the publishers to ask Tolkien to produce a sequel.

The request for a sequel prompted Tolkien to begin what would become his most famous work: the epic novel, The Lord of the Rings, originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955.

Tolkien studied English medieval history and so it seems likely he might have instinctively used Hampshire’s ancient New Forest when he came to describe the “Old Forest” in The Lord of the Rings.

According to the new book, Tolkien was fascinated by the legend of King Arthur and his traditional association with Winchester, claimed by some to be the site of Camelot.

“There are some important references to the tales of King Arthur in his stories; these include the departure of Frodo, Gandalf, and others for western lands over the sea, which clearly echoes Arthur’s passing over to a place of healing in Avalon,” claims the book.

The south also featured in another Tolkien story, The Notion Club Papers, an incomplete tale started by the author in 1945, soon after the end of the Second World War.

In the story, Tolkien looked more than 40 years into the future and told of a great storm that raged over the south during the night of June 12, 1987, laying waste vast areas of trees and woodlands.

In reality, a hurricane of great ferocity did hit the south in 1987, many years after Tolkien’s death, although the storm struck in October and not in the summer.

Was this a remarkable coincidence, or did Tolkien predict the storm of the century?

  • Amazing and Extraordinary Facts, JRR Tolkien, by Colin Duriez is published by David and Charles, priced £9.99.