Tolkien triumphs in the BBC's 'Big Read'

The BBC's poll to discover the nation's favourite book ended in triumph for The Lord of the Rings last night, J R R Tolkien's epic emerging a clear winner over Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in second place, with the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials in third.

The climax of The Big Read was not exactly unexpected. Ladbrokes had stopped taking bets on The Lord of the Rings long before recent publicity surrounding the third part of the film version of the book cemented it in the public imagination.

As chief advocate of the book that earned such characters as Gandalf and Frodo Baggins an indelible place in literary history, the television presenter and survival expert Ray Mears stressed its environmental message, declaring it "the most important book ever written in the English language".

Tolkien's grandson, Simon Tolkien, was also at the Royal Opera House to say that the vote was an "unbelievable honour". He recounted how, on the book's publication in 1954, Tolkien had dreaded reaction to it. "I have exposed my heart to be shot at," he had said.

Viewers had a choice of five books to vote for, reduced from a shortlist of 21, which itself had been whittled down from an original list of 100 when The Big Read began in April.

Presenter Clive Anderson claimed 750,000 votes were cast for the final five, although the figures given for each book did not quite tally. The Lord of the Rings received 174,000 votes, Pride and Prejudice 135,000, His Dark Materials 63,000, Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 57,000 and J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 55,000.

Not in doubt is the effect the poll has had on sales of books featured, and of videos and DVDs of those that have been made into films or TV series. With The Return of the King - the third part of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy - released in cinemas next week, Tolkien fever looks here to stay.