George Orwell

(1903-1950)

Born Eric Blair in Bengal, India, Orwell came to England at the age of three.

His connections with Southwark have prompted much debate among history enthusiasts but we now have strong evidence that, as part of the research for his book ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’, he lived in a doss house on Tooley Street, SE1.

He also wrote a section of this book, which was published in 1933 and is a first hand account of those down on their luck in two cities, in St Olave’s Library on the same street.

Orwell was certainly no stranger to controversy, maintaining that no person or organisation was ever above critiscism. He was an individualist, a man concerned for the plight of the poor and often referred to as a man born out of his time.

Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1969) are probably his most famous works, the latter giving him financial security due to its phenomenal success.

The first nomination for 2004’s blue plaques campaign was for Orwell and  made by Zoe Wanamaker after she unveiled a plaque to her late father and last year’s winner, Sam Wanamaker, at the Globe.

Arguably one of the most important literary voices of the last century, Orwell’s novels remain to this day some of the most compelling and devastating pieces of social commentary ever written.