George Orwell was born Eric Blair in 1903 into an upper middle-class English family which had a tradition of government administration in the British Empire.He was in fact born in India,where his father was then working.Hewas sent to Eton,one of the most expensive boys’schools in Britain and one of those with most prestige,but instead of going on to university he followed the family tradition by joining the Indian Police Service and was sent to Burma.His five years there led him to reject every aspect of imperialism and the brutality it could create in those in authority,and to feel closer to those who were oppressed than to those who oppressed them.