George Orwell Quick Info | |
---|---|
Height | 6 ft 2 in |
Weight | 72 kg |
Date of Birth | June 25, 1903 |
Zodiac Sign | Cancer |
Date of Death | January 21, 1950 |
George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and literary critic who is known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). He has been declared “perhaps the 20th century’s best chronicler of English culture” and The Times ranked him second among “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945” in 2008. His bibliography includes Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia, and others.
Born Name
Eric Arthur Blair
Other Name
George Orwell
Age
He was born on June 25, 1903.
Died
On January 21, 1950, George Orwell died from tuberculosis at the age of 46 in London, England, United Kingdom.
Resting Place
All Saints’ Church, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Sun Sign
Cancer
Born Place
Motihari, Bengal, British India
Nationality
Education
George Orwell attended a convent school in Henley-on-Thames as a day boy. He then studied at St Cyprian’s School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
He later studied at Eton College.
Occupation
Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Literary Critic
Family
- Father – Richard Walmesley Blair (Worked as a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service, overseeing the production and storage of opium for sale to China)
- Mother – Ida Mabel Blair (née Limouzin)
- Siblings – Marjorie (5-year Older Sister), Avril Dunn (née Blair) (5-year Younger Sister)
- Others – Thomas Richard Arthur Blair (Paternal Grandfather) (Clergyman), Frances/Fanny Catherine Hare (Paternal Grandmother), Francis Matthew Limouzin (Maternal Grandfather), Theresa/Thérèse/Teresa Catherine Halliley (Maternal Grandmother), Charles Blair (Great-Great-Grandfather) (A wealthy slave-owning country gentleman and absentee owner of two Jamaican plantations), Lady Mary Fane (Great-Great-Grandmother)
Genre
Dystopia, Roman à clef, Satire, Literary Criticism, Polemic, Opinion Journalism
Subjects
Anti-fascism, Anti-Stalinism, Anarchism, Democratic Socialism
Build
Slim
Height
6 ft 2 in or 188 cm
Weight
72 kg or 158.5 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
George Orwell dated –
- Eileen O’Shaughnessy (1935-1945) – He met Eileen O’Shaughnessy in early 1935 and they got married on June 9, 1936, at St Mary’s Church, Wallington, Hertfordshire. The couple tried to have children but eventually discovered that Orwell was sterile. They later adopted a three-week-old boy they named Richard Horatio in June 1944. Orwell and Eileen remained together until her death in 1945.
- Sonia Brownell (1949-1950) – He married his 2nd wife Sonia Brownell on October 13, 1949. George Orwell died in 1950 just 3 months after their marriage.
Race / Ethnicity
White
George Orwell was of English and French descent.
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Blue
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Sported a pencil moustache
Religion
Atheism
George Orwell Favorite Things
- One Of His Favorite Locations – River Orwell in Suffolk
Source – Wikipedia
George Orwell Facts
- He was born into a “lower-upper-middle class” family.
- Although he was born in India, his mother took him to England when he was just 1 and she settled with her children at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire in 1904.
- For some time, George Orwell had a career in teaching as he taught at The Hawthorns High School in Hayes, West London.
- He worked as a journalist for the BBC during the Second World War.
- It is speculated that George Orwell might have been the first person to use the term “cold war” to refer to the state of tension between powers in his essay, “You and the Atom Bomb”, published in Tribune on October 19, 1945.
- The adjective “Orwellian” refers to an attitude and a policy of control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past. The New York Times has said the term is “the most widely used adjective derived from the name of a modern writer”.
- Many words and phrases from Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four have made their way to popular language and some of these words are: “Big Brother”, “Thought Police”, “Newspeak”, “Doublethink”, “Room 101”, “memory hole”, “unperson”, and “thoughtcrime”.
- Some of the things he hated included modern furniture, the radio, central heating, big towns, and noise pollution.
- Orwell was a heavy smoker.
Featured Image by BBC / penguinbooksindia.com / Public Domain