--- title: Tolkien Fans Share #TolkienBirthdayToast for 125th Birthday description: Jan. 3 marks J.R.R. Tolkien's 125th birthday - and to celebrate, fans are raising their glasses to the author, who died on Sept. 2 1973. canonical: https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T14:51:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:49.187Z og:title: See How Tolkien Fans Are Toasting the Writer's 125th Birthday og:description: Fans are raising a glass with the hashtag #TolkienBirthdayToast og:url: https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See How Tolkien Fans Are Toasting the Writer's 125th Birthday twitter:description: Fans are raising a glass with the hashtag #TolkienBirthdayToast twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # J. R. R. Tolkien Fans Are Toasting the _Lord of the Rings_ Author on His 125th Birthday by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jan 3, 2017 2:51 PM UTC by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jan 3, 2017 2:51 PM UTC Jan. 3 marks [J.R.R. Tolkien](http://time.com/4079939/tolkien-letter-auction/)‘s 125th birthday – and to celebrate, fans will be raising their glasses to the beloved _Lord of the Rings_ and _The Hobbit_ author, who died on Sept. 2 1973. Fans who take part in the celebration are encouraged to share their pictures on social media using the hashtag #TolkienBirthdayToast at 9pm (whatever their local time is). The U.K.-based Tolkien Society which organized the event have asked participants to simply say “The Professor” as they raise their glasses. > [](https://twitter.com/TolkienSociety/status/816253031364829184) According to the [Tolkien Society](https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-birthday-toast-2017/), when Bilbo Baggins left the Shire on his 111st birthday in _The Lord of the Rings_, his nephew, Frodo, toasted his birthday on Sept. 22 every year. On Nov. 3 last year, [a poem by Tolkien](http://time.com/4407241/jrr-tolkien-galadriel-poem/) was published for the first time since its original 1945 release. “The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun,” a lengthy poem about a desperate couple wishing to have a child who seek the help of a witch. Tolkien scholars described it as coming from the “darker side” of the English author’s imagination. See some photos of toasts from around the world below. > [](https://twitter.com/trenggiling09/status/816283549657501698) > [](https://twitter.com/kwiyoumi/status/816282474250575872) > [](https://twitter.com/mireillemoreira/status/816274096392642561) > [](https://twitter.com/Vodkondesa/status/816229933760606208) > [](https://twitter.com/tolkienisch/status/816257028460904448) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/"},"headline":"J. R. R. Tolkien Fans Are Toasting the Lord of the Rings Author on His 125th Birthday","datePublished":"2017-01-03T14:51:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:49.187Z","description":"Fans are encouraged to share their selfies using the hashtag #TolkienBirthdayToast","url":"https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Books","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620477/tolkien-125-birthday-bilbo/","name":"J. R. R. Tolkien Fans Are Toasting the Lord of the Rings Author on His 125th Birthday"}}]}] ```