[Knight of Gondor]

Tolkien and Lewis were good friends, yes. But from what I hear, Tolkien was quite critical of Lewis's work because it was so blatently allegorical. I think Lewis took it right in stride though, and the two remained good friends. (As far as I know)

While Tolkien didn't want to get allegorical, being a Christian I don't think he could avoid it. However, he didn't create perfect allegories (such as Lewis did with Aslan), but sprinkled it around. (I've heard it put that three of the places of Jesus were incorporated, Priest, Prophet and King; Frodo as Priest, carrying away the sin, Gandalf as Prophet, and Aragorn as King.)

I read The Chronicles of Narnia very early on, and didn't get into the Lewis's Space Trilogy until much later. (And 'tis a good thing too...Lewis's characters swear like sailors sometimes!) I didn't become a Rings fan until just last year!