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George Orwell reporting for the Ministry of Tru... I mean the BBC
Real name Eric Blair, George Orwell was the one of the most influential authors in the English language.
A socialist all his life, but his views changed somewhat over time and his dislike of Soviet communism was very clear. Orwell, a journalist, participated in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans, serving in the party militia of the P.O.U.M. or Party of Marxist Worker's Unification [1], and even got shot in the throat (an experience that he would go on to describe as "interesting"). His works tend to be considered cynical. The term "Orwellian" is named after his famous works of dystopian fiction, particularly Nineteen Eighty-Four.
His most famous works are:[]
- Animal Farm
- Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Homage to Catalonia - an autobiographical account of his experiences in Spain.
- Politics and the English Language - A hugely influential non-fiction essay.
Orwell created the following tropes:[]
- Newspeak (he took inspiration from several real-life sources)
- We Will Use Wiki Words in the Future
Several additional tropes were inspired by Newspeak, including:[]
George Orwell is the source of several trope names:[]
- Two Plus Torture Makes Five
- All Issues Are Political Issues
- Big Brother Is Watching
- Cold War: It is debated whether he actually coined it, but he was certainly one of the first to use the phrase, in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb".
- Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better
- Orwellian Editor
- Orwellian Retcon
- Room 101
- Unperson
- Written by the Winners
He is also the current mascot for the "Have a Nice Cup of Tea And Sit Down" page. He considered tea to be Serious Business. Spot of Tea, indeed.
- ↑ Note that he didn't care for the POUM's ideology very much - he only ended up in its militia because he had come to Spain via the British ILP, which was affiliated with the POUM