This is also the age in which Bilbo Baggins finds the Ring and gives it to his nephew, Frodo, on their shared birthday. Frodo sets out from the Shire with Sauron's One Ring in Third Age 3018.

"It is with great sadness we can confirm that the actor Sir Ian Holm CBE passed away this morning at the age of 88," his agent ... having played Frodo Baggins for BBC radio in 1981.

The Lord of the Rings movies followed Sam and Frodo on their journey to Mount Doom, but Samwise Gamgee's story went a little ...