Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by Bill Wall
In 1933, he published
Down and Out in Paris
and London. He
mentioned that he
played chess and there
were several references
to chess.
"Coming to a Salvation
Army shelter, where it is
at least clean, is their
last clutch at
respectability. At the
next table to me were
two foreigners, dressed
in rags but manifestly
gentlemen. They were
playing chess verbally,
not even writing down
the moves. One of them
was blind, and I heard
them say that they had
been saving up for a
long time to buy a
board, price half a
crown, but could never
manage it."
By 1934, he gave up
teaching and tried to
become a full time
writer.
In 1934, he worked as a
part-time assistant in
Booklovers' Corner on
the corner of South End
Green in Hampstead,
owned by Francis and
Myfanwy Westrope. He
worked at the shop in
the afternoons and had
his mornings free to
write and his evenings
free to socialize. He was
now known as George
Orwell.
He stopped working at
the book store in
January 1936. The site is
now known as Prompt
Corner, which started
out as a chessplayers'
cafe, then turned into a
pizza parlor in the
1980s.
In 1936, he published
Keep the Aspidistra
Flying. It had one
reference to chess.
In 1936, he decided to
go to Spain to take part
in the Spanish Civil
War. In 1937, he saw
some action in a night
attack in the trenches.
Later, he was wounded
in the throat by a
sniper's bullet. He
returned to England in
June 1937.
In 1938, he published
Homage to Catalonia
(one of Garry
Kasparov's favorite
books). It had one chess
reference.
In 1938, he traveled to
Morocco to avoid the
English weather and
recover his health. In
one of his letters to his
wife, written on
December 1938 from
Morocco, he mentioned
that he bought some
chessmen and wrote "It
looks rather attractive."
He returned to England
in 1939. For the next
year he was occupied
writing reviews for
plays, films, and books.
In August 1940, he
wrote an essay for New
Statesman and Nation
called "Charles Reade."
It had one reference to
chess.
In 1940, he published an
essay called "Boys'
Weeklies" in Horizon
magazine. He had one
reference to chess.
In 1941, he supervised
BBC cultural broadcasts
to India to counter
propaganda from Nazi
Germany.
In 1943, he was
appointed literary editor
at Tribune and wrote
over 80 book reviews.
He moved to Scotland in
1946 to escape from
London and write. It
was here that he started
on his book, Nineteen
Eighty-Four. He
finished the manuscript
in December 1948.
"Uncommanded, the
waiter brought fresh
glasses of gin. There as
a chess-board on the
table beside them, with
the pieces set out but no
game started."
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