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The Book Club

5. Nineteen Eighty-Four: Big Brother, Surveillance, and Fear

The Book Club

Goalhanger

Arts, Books, Education, History

4.71.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 86 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why is 1984 as relevant today as when it was published? Who is Big Brother, and why is he so powerful? What was George Orwell's intention when creating the world of 1984, and what does it tell us about politics today?Join Dominic Sandbrook and Tabitha Syrett they delve into the fascinating story behind the writing of 1984, the world it was born of, and the novel itself. You can order 1984 and explore our favourite Folio books at http://foliosociety.com/thebookclub Email us: ⁠⁠thebookclub@goalhanger.com⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@bookclubpodhq⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠@thebookclubpodhq⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠@bookclubpodhq⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠@TheBookClubPodHQ⁠⁠ Senior Producer: Nicole Maslen Social Producer: Emma Jackson Video Editor: Joe Pettit Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Jamie Lang and Sophie Haboo have arrived on Disney Plus.

0:04.0

We're having a baby.

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We're having a baby.

0:07.0

I've always wanted to be mom.

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And we're bringing you on our journey through everything.

0:12.0

I have no idea what we're doing.

0:13.0

Thank you. I have more of an idea.

0:15.0

I think of it like a Tamagocchi.

0:17.0

At the end of all of this...

0:20.0

We're going to have a little baby. Raising Chelsea, a Hulu

0:23.7

original series streaming exclusively on Disney Plus. 18 plus subscription required T's and T supply.

0:30.1

This episode is brought to you by the Folio Society. Now the Folio Society is a small

0:35.3

independent publisher owned by its employees and based in South London.

0:39.9

And they revisit the stories that we keep coming back to on this show and they reshape how you experience them.

0:46.6

One of those is 1984, a dystopian vision that escaped the page and entered our language.

0:53.2

Orwell wasn't just imagining a bleak future.

0:55.6

He understood that if language narrows, then thought narrows with it. And control often begins

1:01.8

by adjusting the record one word at a time. Folio treat books as living texts. And here,

1:09.6

the design mirrors the novel's ideological machinery.

1:13.9

So this folio society doesn't just depict the world of Airstrip One. It inhabits it. It draws you into

1:20.3

a world where facts fall into line and reality follows. You can order 1984 and explore the other books we keep coming back to

1:30.5

at foliosociety.com slash the book club.

...

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