Category Archives: Orwell oddities

Oppenheim tipped to script new ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ movie

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Gofblog

Orwell’s frighteningly prophetic tale of totalitarianism run amok, is once again headed to the silver screen. Read more here.

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Recalling Eric Blair’s beer mug…

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Gofblog

Broadcast on the Saturday Live programme on BBC Radio 4, 27 August 2011: Listen now (60 minutes in which this is quite a long item, with Irene Stacey speaking) The Thing About Me :: Orwell jug ‘‘Irene Stacey, former landlady of the … Continue reading →

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Footballer’s ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four’ Tweet upset

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Gofblog

Newcastle United midfielder/winger Joey Barton has reportedly been ostracised by the soccer club’s management after quoting Orwell in a sulky Twitter posting…

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‘The £1m home that inspired Orwell to be a writer’

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Gofblog

Yesterday’s Mail on Sunday ran a piece about Orwell’s childhood home in Shiplake going onto the market (see also Gofblog’s post of 19 July). The MoS story includes a quote from the property’s current owner, Orwell fan Mr Hakim Bursham.

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Orwell contra Huxley

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Gofblog

In his latest Student Operated Press posting, Djelloul Marbrook recalls a comparison of Orwell and Aldous Huxley by cultural critic Neil Postman in his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death that’s worth recalling: “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. … Continue reading →

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Orwell’s house for rent…

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Gofblog

Oxfordshire letting agents are making much of the fact that what’s “thought to be” one of Orwell’s childhood homes, in the town of Shiplake, where the Blairs lived between 1912 and 1915, has come onto the market for rent. According to some … Continue reading →

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Re. Henry Miller’s changing jacket…

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Gofblog

Passing through Paris en route to the Spanish Civil War in December 1936, Orwell dropped in on expatriate American writer Henry Miller at his studio in Villa Seurat. Orwell had praised Miller’s novel ‘Tropic of Cancer’ (1934), and the two had … Continue reading →

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Carry on ‘Mein Kampf’-ing

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Gofblog

One of the more extraordinary (if minor) revelations in Jeffrey Meyer’s biography of Orwell crops up in his account of Orwell’s stint at the BBC Eastern Service. Meyer writes: ‘During the war [the BBC] continued to pay Hitler royalties, through … Continue reading →

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