George Orwell, the pseudonym for Eric Blair, was born in Bengal and educated at Eton in England. An opponent of totalitarianism, he served in the Loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Besides his classic novel Animal Farm, his books include a novel based on his experiences as a colonial policeman, Burmese Days, two firsthand studies of poverty, Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier; an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia; and the extraordinary novel of political prophecy whose title became a permanent part of our language, 1984.  Orwell died in 1950.

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