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Blair’s Hut & the Invention of the Romantic Alps

“On the spot where we were standing is a small cabin, built of stones loosely piled together, as a shelter for travellers, which in joke has been named “The Castle of Mont Anvert.” An Englishman of the name of Blaire, who is residing at Geneva, has caused a more spacious one to be built at […]

One Scroll of Parchment

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” George Orwell The information wrestled from the record of an 18th century Chancery suit (Blair v Drake 1754) involving Orwell’s great-great-grandfather has been crucial for unlocking some previously closed research doors. This one scroll of parchment helped with several pieces of the […]

Orwell: 2+2=5 (film review)

Raoul Peck’s ambitious new documentary pays homage to George Orwell’s intellectual achievement by exploring contemporary manifestations of the authoritarianism the writer so deplored. Since his premature death from tuberculosis in 1950, Orwell’s novels and essays have become authoritative primers for several generations of readers seeking insight into the dark arts of political propaganda, surveillance and […]

Charoux, Orwell & Astor’s Circle

“Siegfried Charoux was a man of many gifts and warm friendships. Sculpture and painting were his chief modes of expression, but he was also an inventor of technical devices in those arts, a memorable amateur cook and a powerful arguer.”                                […]

“The Enemy of Nonsense”

George Orwell, who wrote for The Observer, described it as “the enemy of nonsense”. Now, more than ever, it has a job to do.     James Harding, Editor-in-Chief It was with great interest I read James Harding’s note after the merger of The Observer with Tortoise Media back in April this year. Harding not only evoked […]

Lost Letter (1942)

“Orwell must have had some scheme for winning the war, or perhaps, as William Empson remembered, for organised guerrilla warfare if there were a German invasion. He received a short acknowledgment on 26 March 1942 from Tom Jones, C. H., Lloyd George’s famous Cabinet Secretary: “your memorandum will be read by the Secretary of State […]

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