Nineteen Eighty-Four might have been inspired by George Orwell’s fear of drowning

By Nathan Waddell, Associate Professor in Twentieth-Century Literature, University of Birmingham

George Orwell had a traumatic relationship with the sea. In August 1947, while he was writing Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) on the island of Jura in the Scottish Hebrides, he went on a fishing trip with his young son, nephew and niece.

Having misread the tidal schedules, on the way back Orwell mistakenly piloted the boat into rough swells. He was pulled into the fringe of the Corryvreckan whirlpool off the coasts of Jura and Scarba. The boat capsized and Orwell and his relatives were thrown overboard.

Read complete article

~	World Refugee Day: Prolonged refugee separation is harming families — and Canada’s economy

~	Kicked out for coming out: more than half of LGBTIQ+ flatmates face discrimination for their identity

~	Robot eyes are power hungry. What if we gave them tools inspired by the human brain?

~	School playgrounds are one of the main locations for bullying. How can they be set up to stop it?

~	Winter viruses can trigger a heart attack or stroke, our study shows. It’s another good reason to get a flu or COVID shot

~	‘Radical acceptance’: Yiyun Li lost both her sons to suicide. Her rigorous memoir reveals her as a very special writer

~	Companies are betting on AI to help lift productivity. Workers need to be part of the process

~	Jaws at 50: how a single movie changed our perception of white sharks forever

~	Is Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend album cover satire or self-degradation? A psychology expert explores our reactions

~	Would you cheat on your tax? It’s a risky move, the tax office knows a lot about you