The writer Rudyard Kipling was once on its rolls; the former British prime minister Winston Churchill served as its war correspondent.
Now, The Pioneer, New Delhi, has announced its best editor who wasn’t: Eric Arthur Blair
In a front-page story, the right-wing paper reports that the left-wing novelist and political thinker (born in Motihari, Bihar) received a letter from The Pioneer offering him a job as editor.
And on February 12, 1938, Blair wrote to the India Office in London:
“My object in going to India is, apart from the work on The Pioneer, to try and get a clearer idea of political and social conditions in India than I have at present. I shall no doubt write some book on the sub-continent and if I can arrange it, I shall probably contribute occasional articles (to English periodicals).
“ps: I should have said that I usually write under the name of ‘George Orwell‘.”
Cover image: courtesy Time
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IJR 