George Orwell Miles", "George Orwell", and "H. Lewis Allways". He finally adopted the "nom de plume" George Orwell because "It is a good round English name." "Down and Out in Paris and London" was published on 9 January 1933 as Orwell continued to work on "Burmese Days". "Down and Out" was modestly successful and was next published by Harper & Brothers in New York. In mid-1933 Blair left Hawthorns to become a teacher at Frays College, in Uxbridge, Middlesex. This was a much larger establishment with 200 pupils and a full complement of staff. He acquired a motorcycle and took trips through
George Orwell until he had seen the situation "in situ", Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to John McNair in Barcelona. Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with Henry Miller in Paris on the way. The American writer told Orwell that going to fight in the Civil War out of some sense of obligation or guilt was "sheer stupidity" and that the Englishman's ideas "about combating Fascism, defending democracy, etc., etc., were all baloney." A few days later in Barcelona, Orwell met John McNair of the Independent Labour Party