Orwell no Scot

In reply to Susan FG Forde's assertion that George Orwell was a Scot (Letters, 3 February), according to his biographers, Orwell hated Scots and Scotland. The "toffs" at his English public school used to take holidays in the Scottish Highlands, and he equated this with elitism and snobbishness, of which he had a lifetime dislike.

He only chose to stay on Jura near the end of his life because of its inaccessibility and consequent quietness compared with London.

GORDON CRANDLES

Albion Terrace

Edinburgh