Born in Bihar, he became one of the greatest writers in English language, but he was not Indian

He was born in Bihar and became one of the greatest names in English literature. However… he was not Indian. Yes, you read that right! We are talking about British literary icon George Orwell. Known for timeless classics such as Animal Farm and 1984, the writer was born on June 25, 1903, as Eric Arthur Blair, in Motihari, Bengal Presidency (now Bihar), British India, into a lower-upper-middle-class family. However, his great-great grandfather was a slave-owning country gentleman from Dorset.

Orwell's father, Richard Walmesley Blair, served in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service during the period of British rule in India. His position was that of a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent, a role connected to the administration of the British colonial opium trade.

Eric’s mother Ida later settled with her children in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England.


Orwell is best known for the dystopian novels Animal Farm and 1984. Some of his other noted works include The Road To Wigan Pier which narrated his working class life in Northern England, and Homage To Catalonia, which documents his experiences as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War.

On the personal front, Orwell’s personal life was nothing short of colourful. He had several dalliances before meeting Eileen O'Shaughnessy in 1935. Their relationship quickly developed, and they married the following year, forming a partnership that endured through some of the most challenging periods of Orwell's life and career. Although the couple were unable to have biological children, they adopted a three-week-old boy in 1944, whom they named Richard Horatio Blair.

Tragedy struck in 1945, when Eileen passed away from a surgical complication. In 1949, Orwell found love again in Sonia Brownell and they married. But the marriage was short-lived as his health deteriorated from tuberculosis and he passed away in January 1950.

Crowned by The Times as the ‘second-greatest British writer since 1945 Orwell remains an influential figure in English literature with many neologisms such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘Thought Police’, Though Crime’ etc. The ubiquitous slogan “Big Brother Is Watching You’ from the novel 1984, predicted a future where privacy will be lost to surveillance with grim accuracy.