Bloemfontein
From Tolkien Gateway
Bloemfontein is the city where J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892. Now part of the nation of South Africa, at the time that the Tolkien family lived there it was the capital of the independent Orange Free State. Tolkien, his mother, and his brother moved back to England in 1895 while his father, Arthur Tolkien, remained because of business until he died in 1896. Although the name of the city means “fountain of flowers” in Dutch and is nicknamed "Stad van die Rose" (English: Citty of the Roses) in Afrikaans, Tolkien’s first childhood memories were of a hot, parched country with a blazing sun, drawn curtains, and a drooping eucalyptus.[1]
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 163, (dated 7 June 1955)
