I'm Russell Jaffe four-course hero and here are 10 things you probably know about ready to make late Big Brother and wash your drawer well studied it eaten a prestigious boys boarding school in England one year he studied French under Aldous Huxley a substitute teacher who would go on to write brave new world later their two dystopian novels would be subject to constant comparison a movie version of 1984 starring John Hurt was filmed in 1984 some scenes including the one in which Winston writes in his diary on April 4th were actually shot on exactly the same day as the one in the novel desperately sick with tuberculosis and living on a remote Scottish Island no electricity or well racing against time to finish writing 1984 in a letter Orwell wrote like a fool I decided not to go to a doctor I wanted to get on with the book I was writing Orwell died seven months after the book was published in 1984 big brother is the all-seeing all-knowing leader of Oceania the citizens are constantly reminded that big brother is watching you this concept inspired Big Brother a hit reality TV show in which a group of strangers live together their actions and words constantly broadcast to millions of viewers this is a pretty good show 1984 was originally going to be called the last man in Europe this title was intended to suggest that the protagonist was the only person left who still had the ability to think for himself but his publisher urged him to choose a more commercial plane in 1961 an English teacher named Richard Wyman was fired from a high school in Renshaw Minnesota when he refused to take 1984 off his classes reading lists eventually he and the school board came to an agreement the Star Tribune wrote 1984 will remain on the English reading list but for college preparatory students on a voluntary basis and mr. Wyman has agreed that it will not be required of all students Lymon got his job the thought beliefs in 1984 were likely inspired by the toko a government division of secret police because the tokhes mission was to suppress so-called dangerous thoughts this organization was sometimes called the thought police 1984 bears a striking similarity to the 1920s Russian novel we by evgeny's M Young according to one critic Orwell borrowed much of his plot central characters and the dramatic arc from the earlier work nonetheless Orwell is considered to be the superior writer of the two and his work has had a much greater cultural impact nineteen eighty-four his idea of a surveillance state has often been evoked to bring attention to concerns about privacy in the modern age in 2013 it was revealed that the NSA had been secretly recording and monitoring people's internet and phone usage soon afterward a sales of 1984 reportedly rose by as much as 5,000 percent the slogan two plus two equals five used by Orwell as an example of an obviously false fact was actually a communist party slogan the party was confident that their first five-year plan could be achieved for years the equation appeared on signs across the country and the plan was implemented between 1928 1932 [Music]