Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was born in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India on June 25th, 1903.  Raised and educated in England, Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War, worked as a journalist for the BBC during World War 2 and went on to author a number of literary classics such as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four which lead to him being named among the top 50 greatest British writers.