Probably around 9-10 after I had listened to the BBC radio dramatisation. Dad had read me The Hobbit a couple of years before, obviously, to get me started, but I'm fairly sure I waited a few years before getting into LOTR. Really can't remember MUCH about it, other than it was great and I started role-playing shortly after, naming all my characters by Middle-earth names. Still do in fact, sometimes...
Favorite Tolkien character:
Turin. He's a tragic fellow, as we all know, and far too much maligned by us soft bellied modern people. Who amongst us could have done any better than he? Eh? Yet he showed independence, strength, pride and a burning desire to to the right thing. Yep, he made mistakes, but don't we all! And besides those who enjoy critising him so much should probably remember the glass house they live in, and what happens when you start throwing stones!