{"product_id":"2940169215762","title":"The Real George Orwell: The complete BBC Radio 4 dramas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA series of four BBC Radio full-cast dramas exploring the disjuncture between the man who was Eric Blair and the writer who was George Orwell.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Orwell — the pen name of Eric Blair — was a writer and political commentator who is very hard to pin down. He is a complex mass of confusions — an anti-establishment, pro-English, ex-Etonian, ex-policeman, and socialist, who was ardently anti-authoritarian. He was as anti-fascist as he was anti-communist, a former Spanish Civil War soldier who was anti-war but pro the Second World War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBurma\u003c\/i\u003e: After an undistinguished academic career at Eton, Eric leaves in December 1921. When the girl he hopes to marry rejects him, he sets sail for Burma to join the colonial police. His experiences in Burma will affect him profoundly. When he rejects the Empire and returns to England, Blair begins to spend more and more time with the poor. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDreaming\u003c\/i\u003e: In September 1938, Eric and Eileen Blair leave London for Marrakech. He is hoping that the climate will be good for his health, and that he will be able to complete his novel, \u003ci\u003eComing Up for Air\u003c\/i\u003e. But the bruising reception he received following the publication of \u003ci\u003eHomage to Catalonia\u003c\/i\u003e is troubling Eric. And both Eric and Eileen are still feeling guilty about the fate of one of their Spanish Civil War comrades, Georges Kopp.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLoving\u003c\/i\u003e: Eric Blair's relationship with the opposite sex could be a distraught one; over the course of his lifetime, he made several awkward marriage proposals to different women. But his relationship with Eileen O'Shaugnessy, whom he married in 1935, had a huge influence both on his life and his writing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eJura\u003c\/i\u003e: In 1947, the year after Eileen's death, Eric leaves London and moves to Jura in the Scottish Hebrides, with his sister Avril, and his three year old son. He is suffering from tuberculosis but is determined to try and make a go of living off the land. But most of all he is determined to finish \u003ci\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c\/i\u003e, his final book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003eCast:\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEric Blair . . . Joseph Millson\u003cbr\u003eEileen Blair... Lyndsey Marshall\u003cbr\u003eJacintha Buddicom . . . Sophie Roberts\u003cbr\u003eWilson . . . Joseph Kloska\u003cbr\u003eInspector d'Souza . . . Ernest Ignatius\u003cbr\u003eGeorges Kopp...Ewan Bailey\u003cbr\u003eAvril Blair...Liza Sadovy\u003cbr\u003eRicky Blair...James Foster\u003cbr\u003eOther parts played by Armaan Kirmani, Derek Riddell, Alun Raglan, Paul Stonehouse, Ben Crowe, Will Howard, Alun Raglan, Alexandra Guelff, Lizzy Watts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBurma \u003c\/i\u003ewas written by Mike Walker and directed by Kate McAll.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDreaming \u003c\/i\u003ewas written by Mike Walker and directed by Jeremy Mortimer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLoving \u003c\/i\u003ewas written by Jonathan Holloway and directed by Kate McAll.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eJura \u003c\/i\u003ewas written by Jonathan Holloway and directed by Jeremy Mortimer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House UK","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47162320650480,"sku":"2940169215762","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169215762_p0.jpg?v=1763768383","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169215762","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}