George Orwell
George Orwell, 1903-1950
Lived in: Occasionally resided with a friend in 1B Oakwood Road.
Profession: Novelist
About his life:
- Born Eric Arthur Blair, his pen name George Orwell was inspired by the River Orwell in Suffolk.
- Served as an imperial officer in British Burma, inspiring him to write his Burmese Days (1934).
- Critically acclaimed for Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, a critique of totalitarianism, created the political term “Orwellian”, refering to excessive state surveillance and oppression.
- An outspoken democratic socialist, joined the Independent Labour Party in 1938.
