#OnThisDay 1973: George Orwell was the subject of a Melvyn Bragg documentary. Contributors included W.H Auden, Noam Chomsky, Michael Foot, Norman Mailer and Angus Wilson. | BBC Archive

"My first reaction to 1984 was the same as most people, 'it's a really gloomy book'. Later I realised he put this coda at the end. The message is, 'it's gone'." Reading George Orwell’s 1984 at a young age gave author Margaret Atwood a lifelong interest in authoritarian regimes and dictatorships, how they get going... and how they fall apart. Atwood's This Cultural Life interview with John Wilson is on @bbciplayer and BBC Four on Monday at 10pm. | BBC Arts