25 June: George Orwell

Born on this date in 1903 was the writer George Orwell, famous for 1984 and Animal Farm. Here are 10 things you might not know about him:

1. He was born Eric Arthur Blair to a "lower-upper-middle class" family in Motihari, Bihar, British India. He changed his name because he didn’t think Eric was a suitable name for a writer. Initially, he thought he would publish as E.A. Blair, but decided his family wouldn’t like the world knowing that he’d lived as a tramp for a while so he set to thinking of names he could use. George Orwell, after the River Orwell in East Anglia, was his preference, but he sent his publisher a list which included P.S. Burton, Kenneth Miles and H. Lewis Allways.

2. He took research for his books pretty seriously. For Down and Out in Paris and London, he spent time working as a dishwasher in Paris and a hop picker in Kent. He even got himself arrested on purpose in the hope he’d be sent to prison to get first hand experience of what that was like. Posing as a fish porter called Edward Burton, he got arrested for being “drunk and incapable.” It didn’t quite work, though, as he was released after 48 hours in custody. However, the experience wasn’t wasted. He used it to write an essay called Clink.

3. He worked as a police officer in Burma for a while, and during that time, got knuckle tattoos, a small blue spot on each knuckle.

4. He spoke several languages. His French teacher at school was Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. As well as French, he studied Latin, Greek, Spanish, and Burmese.

5. He married twice. His first wife was Eileen O'Shaughnessy, and they had one child, a son who they adopted when he was three weeks old. Eileen died the following year and Orwell was keen to marry again, because he was lonely and wanted a mother for his son. He proposed to several women and eventually Sonia Brownell accepted. By this time, Orwell was very ill with tuberculosis, and unlikely to live very long. He and Sonia were married in his hospital room a few months before he died, leading some to suggest Sonia might have been a gold-digger.

6. Orwell liked to drink strong Tea and when he was living in Spain he had Fortnum and Mason’s tea sent over.

7. He fought in the Spanish Civil War. He first went to Spain after the fighting broke out in order to write articles about the war, but decided that actually joining joining the Republican militia to “fight fascism seemed the only conceivable thing to do.” He narrowly survived being shot in the neck by a sniper, and being charged with treason. However by the time the charge was made, he’d already gone back to England.

8. At one point he had to rescue his manuscript for Animal Farm from his bombed house. Luckily, he and his family were away when their house was destroyed, but Orwell had to go back to the ruined house during his lunch break and sift through the rubble to find the manuscript, which he piled into a wheelbarrow to take back to his office. While on the subject of Animal Farm, he actually owned a Goat named Muriel. There’s a goat in the book with the same name, one of the more likeable characters.

9. Orwell coined several words in common use today, including cold war, Big Brother, thought crime and thought police.

10. He died in January 1950 at the age of 46, when an artery burst in one of his lungs. His gravestone reads: "Here lies Eric Arthur Blair, born June 25th 1903, died January 21st 1950" with no mention of his more famous pen name.

Character birthday

Doreen Lovell, mother of James Lovell (Unicorn). Her hobby of breeding show cats sparked Unicorn’s interest in genetics.

Running in the Family

An alien craft approaches Earth. The alien on board is a fugitive, fleeing from an arranged marriage to freedom on our world. She befriends James, a genetics student, and shares her knowledge about the future of the human race with him. 

A science experiment gone wrong gifts James with superhuman abilities; but they come at a price, leading him to mentor others like himself. He founds a group of amateur heroes called the Freedom League.

The Freedom League suffers a string of losses and tragedies; it seems doomed to failure; but one of its members, Peter Mayfield, has vowed to form a group of his own. He is determined to keep his vow, despite having lost Rosemary, the one person he wanted by his side to help him.

Lizzie Hopkins is a talented young athlete and dancer. Peter sees her in action and guesses her exceptional abilities are far more than they seem. He offers to train and mentor Lizzie - but her mother is violently opposed to his suggestion.

As soon as she is old enough, Lizzie takes matters into her own hands; she seeks out Peter and his group for herself. She soon makes a discovery which shakes her world at its very foundations. Her search for the truth will resolve many unanswered questions, but it will also stir up old heartbreaks dating back to the Freedom League's early days.

Available from:

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