1938

January

• 1 - In a series of lectures aimed at children, J.R.R. Tolkien lectures on Dragons in the University Museum.
• 8 - Michael Graham Cox, who would voice Boromir in Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings and the 1981 radio series, is born.
• 10 - J.R.R. Tolkien goes to London to rehearse his talk at the BBC, four days later.
• 14 - J.R.R. Tolkien gives a talk about Anglo-Saxon Verse on BBC Radio.

February

• 1 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes Letter 21.
• 4 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 22.
• 14 - J.R.R. Tolkien gives an invitational speech at the Lovelace Society, the essay club of Worcester College, Oxford. He reads them The Legend of Worming Hall, a story that would become Farmer Giles of Ham.
• 17 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes Letter 23.
• 18 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes Letter 24.
• 20 - In response to an article in the Observer of January 16, a letter by J.R.R. Tolkien is published, explaining the name and inception of the intriguing hero, which would, according to the Observer, "save many research students so very much trouble in the generations to come."

March

• 4 - Tolkien writes Letter 26.

June

• 4 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 28.

July

• 24 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 31.
• 25 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 29.
• 25 - J.R.R. Tolkien sends an angry letter to a German publisher, after asking whether he was Aryan or not.
• 27 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 32.

August

• 31 - Tolkien submits the finished version of Farmer Giles of Ham to Allen and Unwin, but it is rejected.
• 31 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 33.

October

• 13 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes letter 34.
• 22 - Derek Jacobi, who narrated several audiobooks, is born.
• 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie dies.
• 29 - Ralph Bakshi, who would direct the animated movie in 1978, is born.

December

• 25 - Father Christmas writes a letter to J.R.R. Tolkien's children.

?

• ? - The Hobbit is published in the United States and receives the New York Herald Tribune award as best children's book of the season.
• ? - E.V. Gordon dies.

Years 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941