It was 120 years ago this month that the celebrated and distinguished author George Orwell was born in 1903. Famous for writing books such as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, he secured a special place in literary history in the UK and throughout the world.

The use of social media and the internet was decades in the future during Orwell’s life, as would be the widespread presence of CCTV cameras, despite his warnings of a surveillance society. In Britain, recent concerns about excessive police powers strengthen Orwell’s arguments and political resolve.