Orwell Statue Unveiled at BBC Broadcasting House

On the 7th November this year, a brand new statue of one of my all time favourite authors was unveiled outside the BBC’s London Head Quarters, at New Broadcasting House.

Eric Blair had worked at the BBC as a producer for the “Empire Service” over 70 years ago and some suggest that it is this time at the BBC that gave him the inspiration for room 101, in his now famous novel 1984 which he penned under the more familiar name George Orwell.

The bronze statue shows Orwell in his familiar crumpled shirt, tie and pullover, leaning forward over the Piazza with a cigarette in hand. Behind the statue the wall is inscribed with, “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”, a quote from Animal Farm, which some might suggest is an apt quote for outside the BBC.

The tribute to Orwell was created by Martin Jennings, who is also responsible for two other literary memorials, one to John Betjeman at London St Pancras Station and the other to Philip Larkin at Hull’s Paragon railway station (shown below). In conversation with John Wilson on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme, Sarah Gaventa said that Orwell is “The Patron Saint of Journalism” and as such is in an ideal position to inspire today’s journalists both new and old.

You can read our guide to Orwell’s work here