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George Orwell - Exam
Contributed by: Guy
  • 1. In which year was George Orwell born?
A) 1945
B) 1903
C) 1910
D) 1920
  • 2. What is George Orwell's real name?
A) George Herman Ruth Jr.
B) Eric Arthur Blair
C) Winston Churchill
D) Alexander Pushkin
  • 3. Where was George Orwell born?
A) India
B) England
C) France
D) USA
  • 4. Which war did George Orwell fight in?
A) World War I
B) Vietnam War
C) Spanish Civil War
D) Gulf War
  • 5. Which other famous author was a close friend of George Orwell?
A) Jane Austen
B) J.K. Rowling
C) Aldous Huxley
D) Stephen King
  • 6. What is the subtitle of George Orwell's novel 'Animal Farm'?
A) A Science Fiction Novel
B) A Fairy Story
C) A Thriller
D) A Historical Biography
  • 7. What is the first name of the protagonist in '1984'?
A) Rick
B) Sam
C) Winston
D) Tom
  • 8. What was George Orwell's job in Burma?
A) Architect
B) Police Officer
C) Pilot
D) Chef
  • 9. What is the name of the farm in the novel 'Animal Farm'?
A) Manor Farm
B) Green Pastures Farm
C) Paradise Meadows Farm
D) Happy Farm
  • 10. What is the fictional language created by George Orwell in '1984'?
A) Newspeak
B) Dreamwords
C) Wordplay
D) Cooltalk
  • 11. What is the name of the leader of Animal Farm?
A) Napoleon
B) Alexander
C) Julius
D) Abraham
  • 12. In which year did George Orwell pass away?
A) 1960
B) 1950
C) 1980
D) 1970
  • 13. What pen name did Eric Arthur Blair use for his writing?
A) E.A. Blair
B) Eric Blair
C) Arthur Orwell
D) George Orwell
  • 14. In which year was George Orwell's dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' published?
A) 1945
B) 1949
C) 1938
D) 1950
  • 15. What is the title of George Orwell's work that documents his experience in industrial Northern England?
A) Nineteen Eighty-Four
B) The Road to Wigan Pier
C) Animal Farm
D) Homage to Catalonia
  • 16. Which term, coined by George Orwell, describes totalitarian and authoritarian social practices?
A) Newspeak
B) Orwellian
C) Doublethink
D) Big Brother
  • 17. Who was George Orwell's principal tutor at Eton?
A) Aldous Huxley
B) Cyril Connolly
C) A. S. F. Gow
D) Steven Runciman
  • 18. What was George Orwell's father's occupation in the Indian Civil Service?
A) Lawyer
B) Sub-Deputy Opium Agent
C) Teacher
D) Doctor
  • 19. Where did Eric Blair first meet Cyril Connolly?
A) Wellington College
B) St Cyprian's School
C) Henley-on-Thames school
D) Eton College
  • 20. Which school did George Orwell attend as a day student at age five?
A) Eton College
B) A Catholic convent in Henley-on-Thames
C) Wellington College
D) St Cyprian's School
  • 21. What was the relationship between George Orwell and Jacintha Buddicom?
A) Classmates only
B) Teacher-student
C) Adolescent sweethearts
D) Cousins
  • 22. Which school did Eric Blair attend after St Cyprian's and before Eton?
A) Wellington College
B) Harrow School
C) Shiplake College
D) Henley Grammar School
  • 23. What was the name of George Orwell's essay based on his time at St Cyprian's?
A) Animal Farm
B) Such, Such Were the Joys
C) Homage to Catalonia
D) The Road to Wigan Pier
  • 24. Which of George Orwell's works is an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War?
A) Homage to Catalonia
B) The Road to Wigan Pier
C) Nineteen Eighty-Four
D) Animal Farm
  • 25. What was George Orwell's family background described as?
A) Upper-class
B) Lower-upper-middle class
C) Middle-class
D) Working-class
  • 26. What was the name of George Orwell's first published magazine at Eton?
A) Bubble and Squeak
B) The Election Times
C) Eton Wall Game
D) College Days
  • 27. Which university did George Orwell not attend due to financial constraints?
A) Oxford University
B) None, he did not go to university
C) University of London
D) Cambridge University
  • 28. What was the profession of George Orwell's grandfather, Thomas Richard Arthur Blair?
A) Opium agent
B) Lawyer
C) Teacher
D) Anglican clergyman
  • 29. In which year did George Orwell join the Indian Imperial Police in Burma?
A) 1925
B) 1930
C) 1922
D) 1919
  • 30. What was the name of the ship on which George Orwell sailed to Burma?
A) SS Empire
B) SS India
C) SS Britannia
D) SS Herefordshire
  • 31. Where did George Orwell receive his police training in Burma?
A) Katha
B) Rangoon
C) Mandalay
D) Maymyo
  • 32. What was the monthly salary of George Orwell when he completed his training?
A) Rs. 800
B) Rs. 600
C) Rs. 740
D) Rs. 525
  • 33. Which town in Burma was known for having the refinery of the Burmah Oil Company?
A) Moulmein
B) Maymyo
C) Syriam
D) Katha
  • 34. What did George Orwell adopt in Burma that he kept for the rest of his life?
A) A pencil moustache
B) A beard
C) Sideburns
D) No facial hair
  • 35. What did George Orwell's tattoos look like?
A) Dragon designs on his arms
B) Small untidy blue circles on each knuckle
C) Stars on his shoulders
D) Crosses on his wrists
  • 36. In which month and year did George Orwell resign from the Indian Imperial Police?
A) July 1927
B) September 1926
C) December 1929
D) March 1928
  • 37. Which novel by George Orwell was based on his experiences in the Burma police?
A) Burmese Days
B) Homage to Catalonia
C) 1984
D) Animal Farm
  • 38. What did George Orwell write about his experience of executing a prisoner?
A) Keep the Aspidistra Flying
B) "A Hanging"
C) Burmese Days
D) "Shooting an Elephant"
  • 39. Which ethnic group's churches did George Orwell attend in Burma?
A) Burmese
B) Chinese
C) Karen
D) Indian
  • 40. What was the name of the town where George Orwell's maternal grandmother lived?
A) Moulmein
B) Rangoon
C) Maymyo
D) Katha
  • 41. Which author did Orwell consider to be about as good a novelist as one can be today, despite holding 'untenable opinions'?
A) Evelyn Waugh
B) Mark Twain
C) Graham Greene
D) Herman Melville
  • 42. Which city did Orwell visit quickly after his stay in Wigan?
A) Sheffield
B) Liverpool
C) Barnsley
D) Manchester
  • 43. Who described George Orwell and Richard Rees as 'moth-eaten and prematurely aged'?
A) Rosalind Obermeyer
B) Elizaveta Fen
C) Mabel Fierz
D) Cyril Connolly
  • 44. Which political leader's military uprising concerned Orwell in 1936?
A) John Strachey
B) Oswald Mosley
C) Francisco Franco
D) Harry Pollitt
  • 45. Who visited Orwell in March 1949 at the sanatorium?
A) Celia Kirwan
B) Sonia Brownell
C) Eileen Blair
D) Ann Popham
  • 46. Where did George Orwell return to England from in December 1929?
A) London
B) Paris
C) Bramley
D) Southwold
  • 47. Which journal published George Orwell's first article as a professional writer?
A) New Adelphi
B) Le Progrès Civique
C) G. K.'s Weekly
D) Monde
  • 48. Which government department did Celia Kirwan work for when she visited Orwell?
A) Foreign Office
B) Information Research Department (IRD)
C) Ministry of Defence
D) Home Office
  • 49. What was the title of George Orwell's first published essay in English?
A) "The Spike"
B) "La Censure en Angleterre"
C) "A Farthing Newspaper"
D) "How the Poor Die"
  • 50. Who helped Orwell secure accommodation on the island of Jura?
A) Barbara Ward
B) David Astor
C) E. H. Carr
D) Isaac Deutscher
  • 51. Who ran the second-hand bookshop where Orwell worked?
A) Richard Rees
B) Nellie Limouzin
C) Jon Kimche
D) Francis and Myfanwy Westrope
  • 52. In which year was Orwell listed at number 8 on the BBC's The Big Read poll?
A) 2011
B) 2003
C) 2021
D) 1984
  • 53. Who complimented George Orwell's 'clarity and good sense' in a review of 'Down and Out in Paris and London'?
A) Cecil Day-Lewis
B) Richard Rees
C) T. S. Eliot
D) Max Plowman
  • 54. Which magazine accepted George Orwell's work "The Spike" for publication?
A) Le Progrès Civique
B) New Adelphi
C) G. K.'s Weekly
D) Monde
  • 55. Which hospital did George Orwell go to when he fell seriously ill in February 1929?
A) Southwold General Hospital
B) Rue du Pot de Fer Clinic
C) Hôpital Cochin
D) Portobello Road Hospital
  • 56. Who found George Orwell a flat in Parliament Hill?
A) Nellie Limouzin
B) Rosalind Obermeyer
C) Mabel Fierz
D) Francis Westrope
  • 57. Which novel did George Orwell's experiences at the bookshop contribute to?
A) Keep the Aspidistra Flying
B) Animal Farm
C) 1984
D) Burmese Days
  • 58. Where did Orwell move to live on 22 May 1946?
A) Shanghai
B) Manchester
C) Barnhill, Jura
D) London
  • 59. What was the title of George Orwell's first article to appear in England?
A) "A Farthing Newspaper"
B) "The Spike"
C) "La Censure en Angleterre"
D) "How the Poor Die"
  • 60. What illness did George Orwell contract after a motorcycle trip that developed into pneumonia?
A) Influenza
B) Bronchitis
C) Tuberculosis
D) A chill
  • 61. Where did George Orwell settle back into after returning to England?
A) A cottage near Cambridge
B) The family home at Southwold
C) An apartment in Paris
D) A flat in London
  • 62. Who was the clergyman's daughter that George Orwell became acquainted with in Southwold?
A) Eleanor Jacques
B) Ruth Pitter
C) Mabel Fierz
D) Brenda Salkeld
  • 63. What new medicine was used to treat Orwell's tuberculosis?
A) Penicillin
B) Morphine
C) Aspirin
D) Streptomycin
  • 64. What was the side effect Orwell experienced from streptomycin treatment?
A) Hypertension
B) Anemia
C) Diabetes
D) Toxic epidermal necrolysis
  • 65. Who did Orwell marry on 9 June 1936?
A) Joan Rees
B) Aunt Nellie
C) Sylvia Townsend Warner
D) Eileen O'Shaughnessy
  • 66. What type of man did Orwell associate the face he saw in Dickens's writing with?
A) A nineteenth-century liberal, a free intelligence
B) A religious zealot
C) An indifferent observer
D) A conservative traditionalist
  • 67. Where did George Orwell stay when he first arrived in Manchester?
A) A common lodging-house
B) Over a tripe shop
C) In Wigan
D) At Aunt Nellie's cottage
  • 68. What was the reason Victor Gollancz turned down 'Burmese Days'?
A) Potential suits for libel
B) Financial constraints
C) Lack of interest in the subject matter
D) Poor writing quality
  • 69. What activity did Orwell enjoy outside of writing, as revealed four years later?
A) Hunting
B) Gardening
C) Fishing
D) Cooking
  • 70. Which publishing house published 'Down and Out in Paris and London' on 9 January 1933?
A) Victor Gollancz Ltd
B) Faber & Faber
C) Harper & Brothers
D) Adelphi
  • 71. In which arrondissement of Paris did George Orwell live during early 1928?
A) 3rd arrondissement
B) 9th arrondissement
C) 5th arrondissement
D) 7th arrondissement
  • 72. Who were George Orwell's flatmates at 50 Lawford Road?
A) Jon Kimche and Richard Rees
B) Michael Sayers and Rayner Heppenstall
C) Francis Westrope and Myfanwy Westrope
D) Rosalind Obermeyer and Elizaveta Fen
  • 73. Which author did Orwell describe as a 'good bad poet'?
A) Henry Miller
B) Evelyn Waugh
C) G. K. Chesterton
D) Rudyard Kipling
  • 74. What did Gollancz add to 'The Road to Wigan Pier' while Orwell was in Spain?
A) A foreword by Richard Rees
B) An introduction by John McNair
C) A disculpatory preface
D) A chapter on the Spanish Civil War
  • 75. What was the subject that became George Orwell's obsessive focus in his writings?
A) War
B) Literature
C) Politics
D) Poverty
  • 76. What was Sonia Brownell's health condition when she settled out of court in 1980?
A) She was becoming increasingly ill
B) She had fully recovered
C) She was in perfect health
D) She was hospitalized
  • 77. Which writer did Orwell criticize for devoting himself to 'Roman Catholic propaganda'?
A) George Gissing
B) Arthur Koestler
C) G. K. Chesterton
D) Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • 78. Which writer did George Orwell mention as the modern writer who influenced him most?
A) D. H. Lawrence
B) T. S. Eliot
C) W. Somerset Maugham
D) James Joyce
  • 79. Which organization was Orwell mistakenly thought to need papers from for crossing into Spain?
A) The Independent Labour Party
B) The Special Branch
C) The Communist Party of Great Britain
D) Some left-wing organisation
  • 80. In what year was Orwell's essay 'British Cookery' discovered in the British Council's archives?
A) 2019
B) 1984
C) 2000
D) 1946
  • 81. Which author did George Orwell admire and imitate when exploring poorer parts of London?
A) Max Plowman
B) Ruth Pitter
C) Henri Barbusse
D) Jack London
  • 82. What was the name of the tea-house run by George Orwell's sister Avril in Southwold?
A) A bakery
B) A tea-house
C) A café
D) A bookstore
  • 83. What did Orwell's list, given to Celia Kirwan, consist mainly of?
A) British politicians
B) Writers with pro-communist leanings
C) Communist leaders
D) Anti-war activists
  • 84. Where did George Orwell live while working at the bookshop?
A) Parliament Hill
B) Lawford Road, Kentish Town
C) University College London
D) Warwick Mansions, Pond Street
  • 85. What was the name of the group Orwell was a leading figure in?
A) Leftist Journalists Union
B) British Authors Society
C) London Writers' Guild
D) Shanghai Club
  • 86. When did George Orwell stop working at Booklovers' Corner?
A) End of January 1936
B) June 1935
C) August 1935
D) Beginning of February 1935
  • 87. Who shared the job with George Orwell at Booklovers' Corner?
A) Jon Kimche
B) Richard Rees
C) Cyril Connolly
D) Mabel Fierz
  • 88. What type of writing did George Orwell continually support himself through?
A) Novel-writing
B) Book-reviewing
C) Playwriting
D) Poetry
  • 89. Which illness did Orwell suffer from in February 1946?
A) Influenza
B) Bronchitis
C) Tubercular haemorrhage
D) Pneumonia
  • 90. What was the name of the cartoonist who drew strips for Animal Farm?
A) Charles Schulz
B) Gary Larson
C) Jim Davis
D) Norman Pett
  • 91. Where was the Adelphi Summer School held in 1936?
A) Langham
B) Wigan
C) Manchester
D) Sheffield
  • 92. Who gave George Orwell social and financial support while he lived in Paris?
A) Max Plowman
B) Henri Barbusse
C) Ruth Pitter
D) His aunt Ellen (Nellie) Kate Limouzin
  • 93. Where did Orwell go for a sanatorium treatment in January 1949?
A) London
B) Cranham, Gloucestershire
C) Shanghai
D) Manchester
  • 94. Who helped George Orwell find lodgings when he moved to London?
A) Henri Barbusse
B) John Middleton Murry
C) Ellen Limouzin
D) Ruth Pitter
  • 95. Who diagnosed Orwell with tuberculosis in December 1947?
A) A chest specialist from Glasgow
B) An unnamed local doctor
C) David Astor
D) Dr. John Smith
  • 96. Who did Orwell apply to unsuccessfully for papers to go to Spain?
A) John McNair
B) Frank Meade
C) Harry Pollitt
D) Victor Gollancz
  • 97. Which author did Orwell NOT mention in his essay on Charles Dickens?
A) Defoe
B) Hemingway
C) Fielding
D) Swift
  • 98. What was the name of Orwell's cottage in Wallington, Hertfordshire?
A) Headingley House
B) The Stores
C) Bryn Hall
D) Langham Cottage
  • 99. Which coal mine did Orwell visit in Wigan?
A) Headingley
B) Grimethorpe
C) Langham
D) Bryn Hall
  • 100. What was the title of George Orwell's essay based on his experiences at Hôpital Cochin?
A) "The Spike"
B) "A Farthing Newspaper"
C) "La Censure en Angleterre"
D) "How the Poor Die"
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