To Orwell Today,

Hello,

I wonder if I could trouble you for some help. I have read with great interest the article at EUREKA ORWELL'S MOTORCYCLE! on George Orwell's motorbike.

I have written an article for a motorcycle magazine that relates to Animal Farm and George Orwell's relationship with motorcycles. I really need an illustration and wonder if I might be permitted to use the one attached to this article (of GW and the Rudge) - if you have a jpeg of it that would be particularly useful.

Incidentally, I am an author and my book TRAVELLING WITH MR TURNER is being entered for this year's Orwell Literary Prize.

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,
Nigel Winter

Greetings Nigel,

The illustration I used in the EUREKA ORWELL'S MOTORCYCLE! article -- ie the sketch of Orwell with his Rudge motorcycle -- came from an article sent to ORWELL TODAY by a reader who found it on the website to which I quoted and linked. The illustration is by Jock Mackneish in his 2006 article THE SEARCH FOR ORWELL'S MOTORBIKE.

You have my permission to use the illustration you found on ORWELL TODAY providing you cite the source in the usual way.

I'd be interested in reading your article about Orwell's relationship with motorcycles to share with ORWELL TODAY readers and wonder if you could send the link or the name of the magazine.

A few years ago I wrote ORWELL'S MOTORCYCLE MEMORIES in response to a reader who wondered what type of motorbike Orwell rode -- which led to the subsequent discovery -- described in EUREKA ORWELL'S MOTORCYCLE -- that it was a 499cc Rudge Whitworth built in the 1930s. It had no rear suspension which would have been a rough ride on the rough roads of Jura.

But what types of motorcycles Orwell infamously rode while living in Burma and London has yet to be determined. I know that while he lived in the little village of Wallington, Hertfordshire -- his inspiration for Manor Farm in Animal Farm -- Orwell rode a bike but it wasn't a motorbike -- just the type you pedal.

Congratulations on your book TRAVELLING WITH MR TURNER being nominated for the Orwell Literary Prize. Is it about Orwell or is it a candidate merely on its literary merit?

All the best,
Jackie Jura

VISITING ORWELL'S WALLINGTON HOUSE & ORWELL'S LIFE IN WALLINGTON & VISITING ORWELL'S ANIMAL FARM

JOURNEY TO ORWELL'S JURA & VISITING ORWELL'S BARNHILL & ORWELL'S LIFE ON JURA