The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien in the United Kingdom between 1937 and 1949. Since Tolkien, a Roman Catholic, wanted to create a unique English mythology, he turned to what he knew, taught and frequently studied: Anglo-Saxon, and fairy-stories. One work that included both of these interests was Beowulf, the famous English saga and a source that Tolkien frequently drew upon to write his own sagas. Tolkien also recalled several features of the U.K. while writing, mainly the quaint, northern English countryside he grew up in (The Shire) and the Celtic language Welsh, which is what the Sindarin tongue is mostly based on.