Wsheet-208_ Listening pages_ BBC 4 DOCUMENTARY – GEORGE ORWELL-parts 1 and 2

Wsheet-208_ Listening pages_

BBC 4 DOCUMENTARY – GEORGE ORWELL

Despite passing at only 46, Orwell left an almost imposingly large body of written work. But we have a few photographs of Orwell, but as far as sound or film, nothing exists. Yet that didn’t stop BBC Four from putting together George Orwell: A Life in Pictures, casting actor Chris Langham as Orwell, having him speak Orwell’s words, and inserting him, Zelig-like, into historical footage real and reconstructed of Orwell’s places and times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6txpumkY5I

               Part 1_ SCHOOL DAYS            (Playtime 03:50–07:30)

1. real name                ……….           ……….   Eric Blair

2. year/place of birth   ……….           ……….   25 june 1903

3. age when sent to a boarding school ……   Aged 8

4.  his dislike of school shown in …    ……….  Work:  Such were the joys

5. at Eton, he considered common people … from lower-upper-middle class viewpoint

                                                                        they were almost subhuman

6. as a student, he described himself as …     an odious little snob  …& revolutionary

                  Part 2_ BURMESE DAYS            (Playtime 09:00–13:00)

Aged not even twenty and wanting to explore tyranny, Orwell moves to Burma and joins the Imperial police, which leaves an indelible imprint on his writing.

a What is Orwell’s attitude to the British imperial rule in Burma?

•  He denounces its colonialism: no modern man in his heart of hearts believes it is right to invaded a foreign country and hold the population down by force.

b How does he see himself as a member of the Imperial Police force?

                     I was part of the machinery of despotism.

c What does Orwell learn when seeing a young Burmese man hanged?

• the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness of cutting a life short            when it is in full tide.

 d Why does he eventually leave the Imperial Police?

I could not go on any longer, serving an Imperialism; which I had come to regard, as very largely, a racket. 

e As a young man, what kind of books did Orwell want to write?

 enormous naturalist novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes

Homework  FOR NEXT DAY....:

First,  Have a look at the video up to minute 13:00 & 

Check 20 mistakes in the automatic transcript.

Then do Parts 3-4-5