To Orwell Today,
re: ORWELL ETON POEM DISCOVERED

Hi Jackie,

Attached is a copy of the original 1921 photo that was on "The Unknown Orwell" book cover.

Also attached are other photos of my grandfather J.F. Crace and his house.

It would seem likely that Orwell is in all of those somewhere. I've got a suspicion in a few of them but I'd love to see if you can spot him. Only the 1921 photo is dated and as that would have been his last we should be looking for a younger looking boy in the other four pics.

I hope you find these as interesting as I have.

Best wishes,
John Johnston

PS - I am also sending the College List for 1921.

Greetings John,

Well, here I go again - LOOKING FOR ORWELL AT ETON - just like back in 2004 when I was standing on those very same steps - reading the Eton brochure, looking for directions to the museum where I was hoping there'd be something about Orwell - and then getting back home and discovering I'd been standing on the very same step as Orwell had been back in 1921, 83-years previously.

And now, these six years later, you, the grandson of the teacher in that photo ("the gentleman in the mortar board"), sends the original of that photo. It really is Orwellianly godcidental.

And as if that wasn't treasure trove enough, you've sent four more photos of Orwell on the steps at Eton, and challenge me to find him again.

This seems to be a recurrent theme in my life - this 'looking for Orwell' - as symbolized in the picture below. I clipped it out of a newspaper article back in 2003, and it's been on the door of my ORWELL TODAY office ever since.

The clipping behind me (holding up an ORWELL TODAY T-SHIRT) shows two hands holding a pair of binoculars over the heading "LOOKING FOR ORWELL". I've scanned it below to see up-close:

Godcidently, when you look at the image at the end of the telescopes, it's Orwell captured in the lens, implying that he's been found (or maybe it's HIM looking for US).

In any event, I'm keen to play your "can you spot Orwell" game and hope ORWELL TODAY readers will write in too with what they think.

To make it easier to recognize Orwell, alias Blair, among those approximately 70 other King's Scholar students (from the years 1917 through 1921 when he attended Eton) I've looked at photos of him at varying ages (taken from various books) so as to compare:

The first photo above is chubby-faced Orwell at age three; next is Eric age 15 in 1918 with his mother, younger sister and father (who at age 60 had joined the army during WWI); next is him on summer holidays - age around 16 - with his Henley-on-Thames friends Prosper and Jaccintha Buddicom; next is him age 17 at Eton swimming across the river from Windsor Castle; finally is him age 18 in 1921 - his official Eton photo.

Thus prepared, I've now looked for Orwell in the photos you sent and have spotted him in two - for sure - and in two others as 'just maybe' (and would appreciate help from ORWELL TODAY readers on those). Here goes:

In the photo above, presumably 1920, he's in the third row from the bottom on the far right sitting next to the bannister.

In the next photo above, presumably 1919, he's standing in the second row from the top, almost in the middle, third in from the bannister.

In the next photo above, presumably 1918, I'm having problems finding him, but am venturing to say he's on the second row from the top, sitting on the bannister on the right, second from the end.

In the final photo above, presumably 1917, I'm also having problems finding him but venture a wild guess that he's in the second row from the top, third-in from the bannister, peeking over the shoulder of the student in front of him.

So, those are my findings.

Now I anxiously await hearing from you - the grandson of the teacher in all five photos - as to the mark I'll receive on this "looking for Orwell" assignment. Will it be 50%, 75% or 100%?

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - Thanks for sending your grandfather's College List of the 1921 King's Scholars. I'll scan it in a separate essay expounding on the subject. So please stay tuned.

PPS - ....posted now at ORWELL'S ETON REPORT CARD

ORWELL ETON POEM GENUINE DISCOVERY (reader Richard had poem verified by Orwell scholar and author Peter Davison)

ORWELL ETON POEM DISCOVERED

ETON COLLEGERS REMEMBER ORWELL

ORWELL'S PUNISHING SCHOOL DAYS

ORWELL & HARRY AT ETON

THE LION AND THE LAMB

ORWELL GREATEST ETONIAN OF ALL

ORWELL TRULY A GLOBAL FIGURE

WHO'S THE GREATEST OLD ETONIAN?

LOOKING FOR ORWELL AT ETON