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The very first time I heard about Tolkien was when aged about ten or eleven, when a friend played me a few minutes on a cassette tape from what he called 'a fairy tale for grown-ups' called The Hobbit.
It was from the (apparently?) long-lost 1961 BBC Radio adaptation read by David Davis - who was one of the best and favourite performers on children's radio during my childhood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis_(broadcaster)
Here is a snippet of his voice - although when I knew him it had matured to be a little deeper and more 'gravelly' than here:
http://www.radioacademy.org/hall-of-fame-member/david-davis/
I was intrigued - but did not get around to reading The Hobbit for myself until I was 13, under the influence of another friend who perhaps lent me a copy.
I loved it so much that I did not want to read The Lord of the Rings because I knew that it did not have very much more about Bilbo - I just wanted another book all about Bilbo.
Still, eventually (i.e. after a few weeks resistance) I read LotR; and the rest is history...
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