The real Orwell

With respect to your contributors engaged in debate over the origins and views of the "quintessentially English" George Orwell – Eric Arthur Blair; he was born on 25 June, 1903, in Motihari, Bihar, India. His father was English and his mother was French! His paternal grandparents lived in Dorset, and, although his surname was Scottish, any Scots origins must have been fairly remote.

One contributor said Orwell "did dislike Scotland", however it was reported in a US newspaper that, while dying in a hospital in England, "he hoped till the very end to make it back to his favourite refuge" – Barnhill on Jura.

Another contributor claimed Orwell felt "nationalism is the hatred of others". The contributor clearly misunderstood Orwell's Notes on Nationalism. He wrote "that I am only using the word 'nationalism' for lack of a better". What Orwell disliked was the political philosophies that included "Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, Antisemitism, Trotskyism and Pacifism" and wrote of his dislike of imperialism and "British jingoism". He stated nationalism "did not necessarily mean loyalty to a government or country, still less to one's own country"! Orwell, like many great writers, never claimed infallibility, omniscience or consistency – his dislike of the political philosophies did not prevent his participation in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side!

BILL McLEAN

Rosemill Court

Newmills, Fife

Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) may or may not have been a Scotsman (Letters, 18 February), but I notice there doesn't seem to be a scramble to claim that other Blair, Tony, for Scotland, although he was born in Edinburgh and attended school here. I wonder why not?

HARRY D WATSON

Braehead Grove

Edinburgh