Nineteen Eighty-Four was a British television adaptation of the novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in the winter of 1954. Orwell's novel was adapted for television by Nigel Kneale, one of the most successful television scriptwriters of the era. Although all went off well technically and artistically, the production proved to be hugely controversial. There were complaints both about the "horrific" content (particularly the infamous Room 101 scene where Winston Smith is threatened with torture by rats) and the "subversive" nature of the play. Most were worried by the depiction of a totalitarian governmental regime controlling the population's freedom of thought.

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1297 - Scots under William Wallace defeated English troops in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stirling_Bridge)

1973 - A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet toppled the elected Socialist government of President Salvador Allende. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_coup_of_1973)

1922 - The British Mandate of Palestine began. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine)

1992 - Hurricane Iniki hit the the U.S state of Hawaii, killing six. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki)

2001 - The September 11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and downed a passenger airliner in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 were killed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks)

Wikiquote of the day:

"He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees." ~ Benjamin Franklin (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin)