Eton College April 2026.

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Report on Orwell Society visit to Eton College on Tuesday 28th April 2026.

by Michael King

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The day began, for seventeen of us, with a very enjoyable lunch at Cote restaurant, overlooking the River Thames in Eton. This was also an opportunity to meet old and new OS members.

Orwell Society at Eton by Barry Page Photography

We then walked to Eton College, passing the wall used for The Eton Wall Game. According to whom you speak, no goal has been scored in this game, unique to Eton College, since 1896, 1908 or 1929! We do know that Eric Blair excelled at this very physical game, in part due to his height.

We were then met by our guide for the afternoon, the very knowledgeable and entertaining Jeremy Grigg. This was his last day working at Eton and in recognition and gratitude for leading OS members on this guided walk for several years, Quentin Kopp presented him with one of the slates from the roof of the house in Barnhill, Jura.

Orwell Society at Eton by Barry Page Photography

The tour began in front of the statue of King Henry VI, who founded Eton College in 1440, for 70 ‘poor and indigent scholars. This aim is still reflected in the presence of King’s Scholars of whom, of course, Eric Blair was one. We then went into The Lower School, not only the oldest part of the College, but apparently the oldest classroom in continuous use in the world. The building has the names of students carved on desks and every possible piece of wood in the

building: our guide pointed out the faded carving of Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister. When the classroom was first used, there was no glass in the windows, and the only illumination was candlelight. The principal subject taught was Latin, followed by theology. At this point our guide told us about the present-day life of boys in the college. They must work Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am to 6pm and on Saturday mornings until lunchtime too. In addition, all boys have their own tailored sports programmes, twice during the week and on Saturday afternoons. Sunday mornings are devoted to a service in the College Chapel. However, Sunday afternoons are free time and there is the compensation of nineteen weeks’ holidays. It was emphasised that Eton College is not merely an examination factory: evenings are usually spent debating the day’s news with a housemaster. This might be a factor in the large number of Old Etonians who have become Prime Minister of this country. There are also over seventy societies, ranging from wine appreciation to politics. Some of the Eton Orwell Scholars have formed an Eric Blair Society. This is a fully expensed 6th Form scholarship worth in excess of £60,000 per year. The Societys attract many distinguished visiting speakers, most recently England football manager, Thomas Tuchell, – who didn’t follow our guide’s advice on penalty taking!

Orwell Society at Eton by Barry Page Photography

We then proceeded to visit Upper School, an imposing building constructed in 1691, which is nowadays mainly used for talks, meetings and Exams sittings. The large room has busts of famous OEs who excelled in the worlds of politics, literature, the military and science. Again, there are carved names of students all over the building. We were told that these had to be carved in capital letters: we were shown that poet Shelley ignored this rubric and used lower case letters, the first instance of a lifetime of rebellion against authority.

We next went to see the beautiful Eton Chapel. Religion still plays a key role in College life. Boys are expected attend mandatory services five time a week, regardless of their own personal religion, or no faith. The services are Anglican, but on Sundays there are also Roman Catholic and Jewish services. The Chapel has two choirs and an orchestra as well as about one hundred visiting musical instrument teachers. On the Chapel walls are a series of paintings depicting incidents in the life of the Virgin Mary, dating from the 15th century. These were painted over following the Reformation but were uncovered some four hundred years later. Together they are one of the finest such surviving works of art in the world.

Next on our itinerary, Jeremy took us to the Museum of Eton Life. We saw the various different uniforms scholars have worn over the centuries (and today), as well as various ties, buttons, etc., exclusive to Eton. There were information panels about many OEs, ranging from Sherlock Holmes actor Jeremy Brett to our own Eric Blair / George Orwell. We were told that from the end of the nineteenth to early twenty first centuries, twenty-five royals from eleven different royal houses were educated at Eton College. At this point, Jeremy told us that Eton takes its wider responsibilities seriously: an outreach programme provides academic support to several colleges in the West Midlands, as well as support and guidance on Oxbridge entrance requirements.

Next we were taken to the College Library, a Georgian building dating from 1719-1929. It was here that we met up with Richard Blair, who had been the guest of The Provost for a lunch with the current Orwell Scholars. There was a short presentation by the Deputy Librarian, who told us that this library was originally only for the use of educational staff and not the boys. The collection opened with about three thousand books, growing to twenty thousand in the present day. In 1833 the library acquired a valuable copy of the Gutenberg Bible. Boys have been allowed to use the library since about 1900. We were then given a few minutes to look at the Eric Blair archive collection, which as well as his own copies of books he read while here as a King’s Scholar, there was a collection of some rare editions of his own writings. Also, there was memorabilia of his contribution to the Eton Wall Game, which included a handwritten report, praising his contribution to the game.

The final stop on our tour was across the road to the School Library, which was frequented by Eric Blair in his time here. This is now a modernized well-equipped library which is the main reference and lending library for students. It had a display of Orwell related books and a number of useful leaflets on other OE writers, notably Henry Green, and well as others offering reading advice.

While we looked around, several boys were working quietly in the library. As we said farewell to our guide, Jeremy Grigg, we reflected on the day and how enjoyable and informative it had been and how much we had not perhaps previously been aware of about Eton College.