World of Chig   

25.6.03
Doubleplusgood

You probably don't know the schoolfriend I sat next to in registration for the first four years of secondary school, and in art classes too. You probably don't know his brother, who was a couple of years older and also at our school. So why should I mention that their Grandad was born 100 years ago today? Because their Grandad was Eric Arthur Blair, and my schoolchums bore his surname. Their Dad had been adopted by Eric Arthur Blair (and this is the first time I've ever seen that fact in writing!) Eric was slightly better known as George Orwell. Hello A & G, wherever you are! (Neither of the two boys are on Friends Reunited.) It must have been the influence of sitting next to A in Mr Holmes' art lessons for four years, but in my 'O' Level art exam, we had to illustrate a scene from a book, and I painted my vision of Winston's room from 1984 (and passed!) This was in 1982, just to put it in context, and we had also studied 1984 as an 'O' Level English Lit set text the same year.

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