Tolkien at the Somme | Doomscroll Buster

He survived the bloodiest battle in British history, then wrote Middle-earth.

In 1916, a young officer named J.R.R. Tolkien went over the top at the Somme. Most of his closest friends never came home. He did, and from the mud and grief of the trenches, he built Middle-earth.

A 40-second story of how some of the most beautiful books ever written grew out of the worst of war.

Doomscroll Buster is a series of short videos about people who faced dark times and made beauty anyway. Watch them all in the Doomscroll Buster section at pastpassport.com. Also available on X@pastpassport.