Question: What date was A new Hobbit started?
About the article "The Lord of the Rings", section "Writing".

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The hobbit was defined as a measure of volume, two and a half imperial bushels, but in practice it was often used as a unit of weight for specific goods.
According to George Richard Everitt, Inspector of Corn Returns for Denbigh in northern Wales, when examined by the House of Commons in 1888, grains were sold by the hobbit, measured by weight.
A hobbit of oats weighed 105 pounds, a hobbit of barley 147 pounds, and a hobbit of wheat 168 pounds.
The figures in hobbits were then converted to standard imperial bushels for official reporting.
In addition to grains, there was also a hobbit of beans at 180 pounds, and in Flintshire, a 200-pound hobbit of old potatoes, or210 pounds of new potatoes.
Around 1600, Welsh farmland was sometimes denominated by its productive capacity or "measure of seedness" instead of its physical area, so that in at least one case a plot was registered as"a hobbett of land", that is, large enough to grow one hobbit of grain per year.
Already in 1863, the hobbit was used as an example of the "customary confusion in our British weights and measures".
An anonymous contributor to Charles Dickens's journal All the Year Round, arguing in favour of the decimal metric system,noted thatIf buy wheat at Wrexham, must order by the hobbet of one hundred and sixty eight .
But, even if I do happen to know what a hobbet of wheat means at Wrexham, that knowledge good for Flint is not good for Caernarvonshire.
A hobbet of wheat at Pwlheli contains eighty-four pounds more than a hobbet at Wrexham; and a hobbet of oats is something altogether different; and a hobbet of barley is something altogether different again. 
Jackson's involvement in the making of a film version of "The Hobbit" has a long and chequered history.
In November 2006, a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh stated that due to an ongoing legal dispute between Wingnut Films (Jackson's production company) and New Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film.
New Line Cinema's head Robert Shaye commented that Jackson "...will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company...".
This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema, and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship.
On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based on "The Hobbit", and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer and executive producer and Guillermo del Toro directing.
However, in early 2010, del Toro dropped out of directing the film because of production delays and a month later Jackson was back in negotiations to direct "The Hobbit"; and on 15 October he was finalised as the director—with New Zealand confirmed as the location a couple of weeks later.
The film started production on 20 March 2011.
On 30 July 2012, Peter Jackson announced via his Facebook page that the two planned 'Hobbit' movies would be expanded into a trilogy.
The third film will not act as a bridge between "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" films, but would continue to expand "The Hobbit" story by using material found in the "Lord of the Rings Appendices". 
In his writings, Tolkien depicted Hobbits as fond of an unadventurous, bucolic and simple life of farming, eating, and socializing, although capable of defending their homes courageously if the need arises.
They would enjoy six meals a day, if they could get them.
They were often described as enjoying simple food, though this seems to be of an Oxfordshire style, such as cake, bread, meat, potatoes, ale and tea.
They claim to have invented the art of smoking pipe-weed, and according to "The Hobbit" and "The Return of The King" it can be found all over Middle-earth.
The Hobbits of the Shire developed the custom of giving away gifts on their birthdays, instead of receiving them, although this custom was not universally followed among other Hobbit cultures or communities.
They use the term "mathom" for old and useless objects, which are invariably given as presents many times over, or are stored in a museum ("mathom-house").
Some Hobbits live in "hobbit-holes" or "Smials", traditional underground homes found in hillsides, downs, and banks.
Like all Hobbit architecture, they are notable for their round doors and windows.
The Hobbits had a distinct calendar: every year started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday, with each of the twelve months consisting of thirty days.
Some special days did not belong to any month — Yule 1 and 2 (New Year's Eve & New Years Day) and three Lithedays in mid-summer.
Every fourth year there was an extra Litheday, most likely as an adaptation, similar to a leap year, to ensure that the calendar remained in synch with the seasons. 
The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is an edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit" with a commentary by Douglas A. Anderson.
It was first published in 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first American publication of "The Hobbit", and by Unwin Hyman of London. 
The Hobbit is thought to have opened in its current form in 1989, replacing a hotel previously located on the site.
Its name is inspired by the race of the same name featured in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien; other public houses with the same name exist in Weston-super-Mare, Monyash and Sowerby Bridge.
It won the Best Pub award at the Southern Daily Echo's "Best Bar None" event in 2007.
In December 2007 it was forced to close for two weeks as a result of an administrative error, during which time the pub was refurbished.
Many drinks served at The Hobbit are named after characters from Tolkien's novels "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings".
Although The Hobbit does not have a kitchen, a new Caribbean food franchise was introduced in 2009, operating from a shed in the pub's garden.