As a teenager, I used to wander through nearby fields and woodlands, imagining scenes from Tolkiens' Lord of the Rings. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I discovered the great man spent his formative years just three miles from where I was brought up.

My first job at 16 in Shirley, Birmingham (not Shirely!) was less than a mile from his childhood home in Sarehole Mill. In my lunch break, I would go for a run and unknowingly pass his house. But best of all was the route through Moseley Bog - a...