C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after World War II. They drank beer on Tuesdays in the Bird and Baby and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis's Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing: jokingly they called themselves The Inklings. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company. This biography draws upon unpublished letters and diaries to tell their story.