There's a season of programmes starting on Radio 4.
Not sure what we're supposed to do beyond that.
George Orwell was a hero when I was a kid - partly because his were just about the only left-wing books I could find in Chalfont St Peter.
Not sure what I make of him now; Eton-educated, homophobic, state snitch, "a Trotskyist with big feet".
I think I kind of wanted to be him.
Though I knew I'd more likely end up like Winston Smith; alone, poor, embittered, alienated, writing angry streams of rubbish to no-one, crying gin-scented tears while the tobacco falls out of my Victory Cigarettes.
Funny how things turn out.
PS Think I'll read Homage To Catalonia, his only great work that hasn't been hijacked by the right. The fool. I'm not sure many people really listened to Orwell - we all think power-worship and propaganda are things that only other people fall for. While Animal Farm and 1984 are used to psych us up for Hate Week.
Update: Apropos of nothing much The Observer published this essay by Orwell on Oscar Wilde's The Soul Of man Under Socialism. It doesn't mention his disgusting personal life...
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