George Orwell

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Despite his death in 1950, Orwell's ideas on [[Britishness]] and [[Socialism]] still resonate today; indeed John Major, the 1990s [[Conservative]] Prime Minister, quoted him once when attempting to define what was worth preserving in the country.<ref>"He was...an eloquent eulogist of England - John Major's vision of warm beer, cricket on the village green and a redoubtable maiden aunt bicycling to morning communion through the mist was borrowed from Orwell" in [http://www.arlindo-correia.com/141103.html]</ref>
 
Despite his death in 1950, Orwell's ideas on [[Britishness]] and [[Socialism]] still resonate today; indeed John Major, the 1990s [[Conservative]] Prime Minister, quoted him once when attempting to define what was worth preserving in the country.<ref>"He was...an eloquent eulogist of England - John Major's vision of warm beer, cricket on the village green and a redoubtable maiden aunt bicycling to morning communion through the mist was borrowed from Orwell" in [http://www.arlindo-correia.com/141103.html]</ref>
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Orwell is also known for offering sage advice on [http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/nicecupoftea.htm the proper preparation of tea].
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==

Revision as of 02:22, 29 December 2010

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair, 1903-1950) is probably Britain's best-known anti-authoritarian writer. Many ideas and phrases from his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four have entered the English language, especially "Big Brother is watching you," and, "some animals are more equal than others."

His work on diverse other topics is also notable; he was one of many left-wing writers and journalists who fought the Nationalists and the dictator Franco in Spain as a member of the International Brigade (he recorded this in Homage to Catalonia), and also he worked as a policeman in Burma; there, he criticized the British Empire's role there in his book Burmese Days. Having witnessed atrocities committed by the Stalinist faction in the Spanish Civil War against their own allies, Orwell returned from the war a committed anti-Communist and advocate of social democracy. His negative views toward communism influenced his two best-known novels. Another well-known Orwell book was Down and Out in Paris and London, in which he exposed the unsanitary and rough working conditions in France's fine restaurants and in Britain's homeless shelters.

Despite his death in 1950, Orwell's ideas on Britishness and Socialism still resonate today; indeed John Major, the 1990s Conservative Prime Minister, quoted him once when attempting to define what was worth preserving in the country.[1]

Orwell is also known for offering sage advice on the proper preparation of tea.

See also

Footnotes

  1. "He was...an eloquent eulogist of England - John Major's vision of warm beer, cricket on the village green and a redoubtable maiden aunt bicycling to morning communion through the mist was borrowed from Orwell" in [1]

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