Fascinating facts about George Orwell

The Animal Farm comes to the mind immediately when someone says George Orwell. He wrote many controversial books, spoke seven languages, and was a banned publisher in some countries including America. Here are some more interesting facts about George Orwell. 

George Orwell changed his name

Eric Arthur Blair was born in June of 1903. He wrote the book, ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’, and for the first time introduced him as George Orwell and stuck to it. Interestingly his name Orwell was inspired by the river Orwell in East Anglia. People started recognizing him as George Orwell, but he didn’t completely drop his real name, Eric Arthur Blair.

 He didn’t enjoy school

One would assume that one of the most wonderful brains of the literary world would love the school he went to. On the contrary, he hated school! George Orwell went to St Cyprian School for Boys in Eastbourne and described the school and authorities as ‘terrible and all-powerful monsters! He was later expelled for sending a prank to the town surveyor.

George Orwell participated in the Spanish Civil War

In 1937, Orwell was in Spain working on his book on socialism, ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’. At that time, he enrolled with the Republican militia to partake in the civil war. He was seriously injured in the war and fled Spain to take shelter in England.

 The famous ‘The Animal Farm’ was almost destroyed

Orwell and his family almost survived when a German bomb destroyed his town and most of the buildings. Luckily, the family was not at home at the time of bombardment. Later he and his son went through all the ruins to find Orwell’s work destroyed, but luckily, they savaged the manuscript for ‘The Animal Farm’.

He survived a beggar’s life

He once went to Burma to serve in the Burmese Police as the Indian Imperial Police. But he was not happy with how people were living under the oppression of the British. He resigned and went on to mingle and live with the poor of society. He would dress in torn clothes and lived in slums in Paris spending time with beggars and street families. All of these experiences led him to write the award-winning book, ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’.

The term ‘Cold War’ was invented by George Orwell

The first documented use of the word ‘cold war’ can be seen in Orwell’s 1945 essay, ‘You and the Atom Bomb’. He explained, “a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of ‘cold war’ with its neighbors.”

There was a lot more to Orwell’s than being the greatest author of all time.