Christopher Tolkien, born on 24 November 1924, was the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. As his father's literary executor, he devoted over forty years to the publication of his father's unpublished works, from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales to Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin , and within 'The History of Middle-earth' series, and was awarded the Bodley Medal for his services to literature in 2016. He died in January 2020 at the age of 95.