17 June, 11am: George Orwell's London
Led by Michael King, experienced tour guide and member of the Orwell Society
Orwell Statue at the BBC, 11am - 2pm (approximately)
George Orwell spent a considerable period, especially in the 1940s, living and working in central London. On this walk, led by Michael King from the Orwell Society, which will last approximately three hours, we will explore some places, mainly in the Fitzrovia and Soho areas of London, which feature in both his life and writings. There are several restaurants where he dined and pubs in which he drank, in Fitzrovia and Soho, which are also used for scenes in his novels. We will see the site of The Chestnut Tree Café from Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as the former offices of the Adelphi magazine in which Orwell published many of his early essays and which also features in a scene in Keep the Aspidistra Flying. We will visit the site of a possible intriguing link to the Jack the Ripper killings, which Orwell mentioned in his essay The Decline of the English Murder. We will see the building which inspired the Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four. On the route are the offices of Faber and Faber, the publishers for whom T. S. Eliot rejected the manuscript of Animal Farm, as well as the flat of Sonia Brownell, that was also used in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Finally, we will see where the wing of University College Hospital was, where George Orwell died in 1950. A new hospital building has been constructed on the site.
The walk will last about three hours with a break and refreshments in a pub, about halfway round the route. Our route will start from the Statue at the BBC, which is about 5 minutes’ walk from Oxford Circus. Oxford Circus is on 3 tube Lines and is therefore easily accessible from most of London’s mainline Stations. When you get to Portland Place, walk towards the main entrance to the BBC. As you get closer you will see the statue on your right under the section of the building connecting the original Broadcasting House with the extension.
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