Britannia metal was used to make the solid core of the Oscar statuettes. The -pound (4 kg) statuettes were Britannia metal plated with gold. The awards have since changed to a bronze core. In his essay, "A Nice Cup of Tea", writer George Orwell asserts that "britanniaware" teapots "produce inferior tea" when compared to chinaware. Britannia metal Britannia metal (also called britannium or Britannia ware) is a specific type of pewter alloy, favoured for its silvery appearance and smooth surface. The composition by weight is typically about 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper. Britannia metal is usually spun rather than cast,
What Is to Be Done? (novel) based on his own ideas of moral responsibility. Vladimir Lenin, however, found it inspiring and named a 1902 pamphlet "What Is To Be Done?". Lenin is said to have read the book five times in one summer, and according to Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Stanford, Joseph Frank, 'Chernyshevsky's novel, far more than Marx's "Capital", supplied the emotional dynamic that eventually went to make the Russian Revolution.' The novel mentions (in the 4th dream of Vera Pavlovna) aluminium as the "metal of the future". In fact aluminium became widely used only starting with World War I (1914).