Ancalagon the Black the greatest of Morgoth’s winged dragons.  He was defeated by Eärendil during the War of Wrath.

There were three breeds of hobbits: the small Harfoots, the water-loving Stoors, and the tall and adventurous Fallohides. The more adventurous and less “respectable” Hobbitish families, such as the Tooks and the Brandybucks, were of partially Fallohidish descent.

Gandalf is actually not a “Grand Elf,” as the men who named him so had assumed, nor an old man as he physically appears to be, but is actually the Maia Olórin who had taken on a physical body at the bidding of Manwë in order to help put a stop to Sauron.

Middle-earth was located  Europe is now located. The Shire was actually quite near Britain. This is probably because Tolkien based hobbits on himself, and thus made their home close to his as well.