Statue of George Orwell Statue of George Orwell A statue of George Orwell by the British sculptor Martin Jennings was unveiled on 7 November 2017 outside Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, in London. The wall behind the statue is inscribed with Orwell's words "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", from an unused preface to "Animal Farm". The head of BBC history, Robert Seatter, said of Orwell and the statue that "He reputedly based his notorious Room 101 from "Nineteen Eighty-Four" on a room he had worked in whilst
Nineteen Eighty-Four Socialist states, like a looser and freer version of the Union of Soviet Republics". When it was first published, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" received critical acclaim. V. S. Pritchett, reviewing the novel for the "New Statesman" stated: "I do not think I have ever read a novel more frightening and depressing; and yet, such are the originality, the suspense, the speed of writing and withering indignation that it is impossible to put the book down." P. H. Newby, reviewing "Nineteen Eighty-Four" for "The Listener" magazine, described it as "the most arresting political novel written by an Englishman since Rex Warner's "The Aerodrome.""