>>/45104/
He was making his own world before he had children, he even said that before he had made both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings he had already created the world. But yes, I think it was just something he liked doing and had not really thought much about before it became popular and he just then kept on doing it.
>>/45108/
They don't mention the things I mentioned there... Most of what they mention are fairly minor actually, for example that Tom Bombadil one could just be attributed to one character having learnt that Tom Bombadil is oldest and another having learnt that the Ent is, people have differing opinions on things like that all the time. Or they could have just made a mistake, much of that list could be a character just making a mistake or misremembering.