[Music] Eric Arthur Blair that are known as George Orwell was born in India on June 25th 1903 he was raised in England with his sister his father worked for Britain's Civil Service Blair started boarding school in 1911 as a scholarship student not popular with the other students he took refuge in books he won another scholarship later on this time to Eton boarding school he couldn't afford to attend University after graduation so he went to Burma now called my anmar he worked for the indian imperial police and he returned to england in 1927 he would call on these experiences in the creation of 1984 Blair adopted the pseudonym George Orwell when he published a memoir called down and out in Paris in London in 1933 the living conditions and situations he described were based on his own experiences as a writer Orwell embraced socialism and decided he would do more than just write about the plight of the working class he travelled to Spain to join the Workers Party of Marxist unification and from 1936 to 1939 fought in the Spanish Civil War the conflict was between the nationalist rebels and the socialist Republican government the Nationalists were backed by fascists and the Nazis the Republican government was supported by many European countries Orwell was wounded by a fascist sniper and decided to leave Spain the communist forces declared Orwell and his comrades traitor to the anti-fascist cause Orwell and his wife had to plot their escape to London in secret this experience too informed the creation of 1984 during World War two Orwell worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation producing propaganda supporting Britain he didn't like disseminating propaganda this may have influenced the Ministry of Truth in 1984 in 1945 Orwell published Animal Farm in which pigs representing leaders of the Russian Revolution fight over philosophical differences in 1949 critical acclaim of 1984 brought Orwell prosperity for the first time in his life he died in London seven months later on January 21st 1950 only two compilations of Orwell's body of work were published in his lifetime but since his death over a dozen collections have appeared