Insights into Orwell: An Afternoon with Richard Blair
Last Friday, pupils in Year Eight had the enormous privilege of attending a talk given by Richard Blair. Mr Blair is the son of George Orwell and, having studied Orwell’s work in detail last term, pupils were able to hear a fascinating account of what it was like to grow up in the family of one of the Twentieth century’s greatest and most influential novelists. In addition to sharing stories about his childhood adventures on the remote Scottish island of Jura, Mr Blair also talked about his favourite books among his father’s work and the enduring appeal of Orwell’s fiction. This really was a unique opportunity for pupils to connect with, and develop an even greater understanding of, Orwell’s life and work.
Throughout the Michaelmas term, Year Eight classes studied a wide range of works by Orwell, exploring both his fiction and non-fiction. They also learned about his varied and interesting life as a member of the Imperial Police in Burma, as a homeless person in England and France, and as a soldier in the Spanish Civil War. Pupils read parts of Orwell’s final dystopian masterpiece, 1984, and used this as inspiration to create their own dystopian story ideas and plotlines. All pupils created superb front covers and summaries for their Orwell-inspired novels, and some of the best were selected and presented to the whole Year group during Mr Blair’s visit. The following pupils all had their work selected by their teachers: James Pitt, Will Broughton, Daisy Mees, Isabella Gabriel, Amy Higgins, Freddie Bookham, Dylan Cornacchia, Elsa Kenkre, Xanthe Carrington-Abraham and Eva Davies.
There had to be an overall winner, and Mr Blair selected the work of Amelia Morris from 8B as the best dystopian novel. Her novel was called The Revolt and Mr Blair particularly noted Amelia’s idea that ‘If you try to replace a dictator, you just become a worse version’.
The visit was a truly wonderful opportunity for pupils to connect with literary history and listen to a fascinating discussion of Orwell’s life and work.
Mr Nick Phillips, Head of English