Fighting and writing from the blood-soaked trenches of the Spanish Civil War, George Orwell’s towering frame made him an easy target.

Standing 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall, the British writer literally stood head and shoulders above his comrades in the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista) militia. Each dawn.

Orwell defiantly rose above the parapet, savouring his first cigarette with brazen disregard for danger.

When warned about snipers, Orwell scoffed, ‘They (the anti-Communist) couldn’t hit a bull in a passage.’

His bravado, however, was misplaced. On May 20, 1937, a Francoist marksman proved him wrong, sending a bullet through Orwell’s throat just beneath his larynx.

As blood poured from the wound, Orwell thought his time had come. The bullet had missed his carotid artery by a mere millimetre, temporarily paralyzing a vocal cord but sparing his life.

While recovering, political tides shifted. The Communist-controlled Republican government began suppressing the POUM, forcing Orwell to flee Spain later that year.

This experience of betrayal and disillusionment, coupled with his near-death encounter, would profoundly shape his worldview. 

It’s happening – NEAR YOU:  George Orwell, the prophetic writer and journalist, summed up mainstream media thus:

“At any given moment there is orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed all right-thinking people will accept without question.  

It is not exactly forbidden to say this or that or the other, but it is not done. Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. 

A genuinely unfashionable opinion is rarely given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in highbrow periodicals.”

Most if not all conventionally published material is endlessly recycled victors’ propaganda.” PLEASE SHARE OUR STORIES

GREAT SAYINGS AND STORIES OF HISTORY Michael Walsh Compilation. A quiet room in a rustic cottage overlooking a pastoral scene who would you choose as your soul companion? Be inspired by hundreds of wise comments uttered by history’s greatest thinkers. LINK TO BOOK → LULU.COM  GREAT SAYINGS AND STORIES OF HISTORY   AMAZON.CO.UK