LORD of the Rings author JRR Tolkien, who spent his retirement in Poole, was written off as second rate by the Nobel prize jury, it has emerged.
Tolkien was a regular visitor to the Miramar Hotel in Bournemouth, for much of his life and lived in Lakeside Road, Poole, from 1968 until he was widowed in 1972.
His Lord of the Rings trilogy was voted Book of the Millennium and turned into three blockbusting 21st century films.
But newly declassified documents show he was rejected for the Nobel Prize for Literature 50 years ago after being nominated by fellow author CS Lewis.
The Nobel jury said “the result has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality” and awarded the prize to Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric.
Tolkien died on a visit to Bournemouth in 1973, a year after leaving Poole to move back to Oxford. His former home in Lakeside Road was demolished in 2008.
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