JRR Tolkien 'trained as British spy'

London, Sept 17 (ANI): Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien secretly trained as a British Government spy in the run up to the Second World War, it has emerged.

Tolkien, an Oxford University professor who also wrote The Hobbit, was "earmarked" to crack Nazi codes in 1939.

According to newly released documents, Tolkien was one of 50 intellectuals specially chosen for secret training, reports The Sun.

Tolkien's involvement with the war effort was revealed for the first time in a new exhibition at GCHQ, the new name for GCCS, the Government's spy base in Cheltenham, Glos.

The display includes a number of previously unseen exhibits relating to Bletchley Park's war preparations.

The word "keen" is written on Tolkien's training file, and it is believed he passed the training course with flying colours.

But he rejected the offer of a job at the famous Bletchley Park code-breaking centre.

A GCHQ historian said: "We simply don't know why he didn't join. Perhaps it was because we declared war on Germany and not Mordor." (ANI)