George Orwell BBC Arena Part 4 The Lion and the Unicorn

Part 4 of an in-depth 5 part series about George Orwell made in 1983.

[@sebastianmelmoth7331]

I really love these documentaries, no silly background music, no over the top editing. Just conversation.

[@frankburrows9850]

Thanks for posting this. Arena was such a superb series wasn't it. Sadly I don't think the BBC make this high standard of documentary anymore. I loved some of the the characters being interviewed, made doubly interesting by the fact many of them knew the author personally. All in all George came over as a jolly good sort.

[@teddy1066]

The more I learn about George Orwell, the more I respect him and love him.

[@13eugubino459]

Thanks for posting this marvellous series.

[@kathleankeesler1639]

Thank you.

[@tomkent4656]

Sadly, none of his BBC broadcasts has survived in recorded form.

[@lec0roh]

Thanks for putting the videos up, a very interesting man to study and who better to investigate Eric Blair than Alan Yentob and the rest of his brilliant Arena production team?

[@josefserf1926]

Orwell was a brilliant writer who was prepared to get his hands dirty. Only that way he was able to have his eyes opened unlike many a novelist. The end of Animal Farm reveals the grim truth - 42:20 Nevertheless, the declaration of war upon Germany was the single worst decision ever made by Britain. The ending 47:36 might well be the most prescient thing he ever wrote - lets hope not.

[@Redflowers9]

And now England is like simba when Nala finds him doing drugs with pumba and timone

[@matthewstokes1608]

No good as a novelist...!? Now I have heard it all... Ridiculous thing to say.

[@ianmartinezcassmeyer]

Everyone has the right to be wrong

[@keithparker1346]

I think 1984 is poorly written. Some great ideas in there but ...

[@matthewstokes1608]

@@keithparker1346 What have u written…? I’ve never heard of you. You are talking gibberish about one of the 20thC’s greatest writers in the English language. I rate him highly. I have read Waugh, Maugham, Hemingway, Faulkner, Burgess, Scott Fitzgerald, Harper Lee, Huxley, Salinger, Joyce, Beckett - and most everyone in between - and I still place Orwell highly.

[@jonharrison9222]

A great writer isn’t a good novelist by default. EB White never wrote a novel for adults but no sane person doubts the quality of his prose. The best of Orwell was in his essays. Ever notice how often they read like dry-runs for the later novels? And no one ever said a novel had to be perfect to be enjoyable. Orwell himself called A Clergyman’s Daughter ‘bollox’ but there are bits in it I still treasure.

[@jonharrison9222]

@@matthewstokes1608 I’ve never heard of you either. And Orwell managed the truly taxing labour of writing ‘you’ instead of ‘u’. By the way, Orwell freely admitted in his letters that 1984 was scratchily re-written with a crude plot; sadly he knew he’d never get the chance to write yet another draft. Take a few deep breaths next time.

[@deanedge5988]

So apposite at this moment. All those important figures with impecable moral profiles at the time - what a ghastly s h one t Muggeridge was; and alas that rather bitter old girlfriend who has left no trace on history but her contributions to this programme.

[@tomgeorgearts]

Why do these idiots keep saying he wasn't a very good novelist? 1984 is the most powerful book I think I've ever read. I loved Keep the Aspidistra Flying too. Sorry, I guess I don't like great literature...

[@Shiro642]

Tom George i think they still liked the message of the book and that the message is good and original. but they way he executes it through his characters and plot are good but not legendary or masterpiece level. i wouldnt call them idiots since they are the people who were in orwells circle

[@Modernjazz1]

Malcolm Muggeridge said the novel Burmese Days was the greatest ficitonalized account of life in the British Empire, superior to anything EM Forster ever wrote. Coming up for Air is a wonderful novel as well.

[@keithparker1346]

The guy explains why he thought Orwell was not a good novelist- no characterisation basically

[@jonharrison9222]

Because most of the novels ape someone else, seldom well. Burmese Days is cod Maugham, A Clergyman’s Daughter cod Joyce, Apsidistra cod Gissing. Orwell never wanted either of the last two republished and wished he’d rewritten the clumsier passages in Burmese Days. In the novels, Orwell only starts sounding fully like himself in Coming Up For Air. In the non-fiction, he sounds like himself almost from the start. As Clive James put it, the last two world-changing novels were just the bark. The journalism was the tree.

[@barrycross2585]

I think you do like good literature, these 2 books are classic examples of it

[@DaveSCameron]

Dreadful quality *

[@barrycross2585]

Unfortunately that's the problem of technology of the quality of the source material used to make this video