Lord Of The Rings: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Hobbits

The Shire was an idyllic place removed from the struggles and wars of the wider world. It's inhabitants lived a sheltered, peaceful and comfortable life. That's certainly the picture Peter Jackson painted of the place in his movies; and Tolkien made his description of the Shire sound just short of heaven.

But the Shire was home to several dramatic events. Gandalf alluded to one such incident in the first Hobbit movie, whilst trying to convince Bilbo of his adventurous nature. Several hundred years before the events of the Hobbit, a party of goblins invaded the Shire - this had never happened before due to the Rangers of the North protecting the Shire's borders.

Nevertheless one group got through. A hobbit resistance was led by one of Bilbo's ancestors - he was so tall (4'5" to be exact) he could ride a horse. He charged the goblin rabble, using a huge club to knock the leading orc's head clean off. Tolkien notes that the goblin's head flew a vast distance before tumbling down a rabbit hole, thus the battle was won and the game of golf invented at the same time.