18. Tolkien is one of the most famous medieval scholars of all time
Though Tolkien would be delighted to be remembered chiefly for what he wrote than for his personal life, he would be less than impressed with his largely-forgotten career as an academic. That said, anyone who has majored in English will be familiar with his many publications and editions of medieval literature. Tolkien saw himself as a lecturer who wrote fantasy fiction in his spare time, and spent most of his life in Oxford’s ancient, dusty libraries poring over old books. And you will not be surprised to hear that he was absolutely brilliant at his day job.
Now’s not the time or place to dwell on Tolkien’s academic achievements in detail, but out of respect for his wishes, here’s a very brief summary. His edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (above), a 14th-century Arthurian romance in Middle English, remained the essential version for decades, and is still consulted today. The slime-green 1970s edition of the work is still a common fixture of university libraries around the world. His much-cited lecture on Beowulf, ‘The Monsters and the Critics’, was also instrumental in changing how people thought about the poem, and has influenced hundreds of other publications.