It is hardly worth using up the space to declare just how good it is. Different readers will come away from its seventeen pungent and packed chapters with diverse memories of its excellence.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface to the 1982 Edition

Preface to the 1992 Edition

Introduction

'And I was a chubby boy'

The joys of prep school and the echoing green

Learning and holidays

Eton: Resting on the oars (i917--21)

An Englishman in Burma (I922--7)

Going native in London and Paris (I928--31)

Hard times or Struggling up (I932-4)

Bookshop days (I934-5)

The crucial journey to Wigan pier

and home tO Wallington (i936)

Spain and 'necessary murder' (i937)

Coming up for air (i938-9): the political writer

The challenge and frustration of war (i939-4x)

Broadcasting days (1941-3)

Tribune and the making of Animal Farm (1943-5)

Famous and solitary man (x945-6)

Jura days

The last days and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Appendix: Afterthoughts and Aftermatter

Notes

Index