WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.879 Section eight of nineteen eighty four by George Orwell. This 2 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:07.759 legamis recording may be freely distributed and adapted for any purpose. 3 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.080 Section one, chapter eight. From somewhere at the bottom of 4 00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:17.199 a passage, the smell of roasting coffee, real coffee, not 5 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.920 Victory coffee, came floating out into the street. Winston paused 6 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:25.519 involuntarily for perhaps two seconds. He was back in the 7 00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:29.079 half forgotten world of his childhood. Then a door banged, 8 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:31.320 seeming to cut off the smell as abruptly as though 9 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:35.479 it had been a sound. He had walked several kilometers 10 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:39.960 over pavements, and his varicus alsa was throbbing. This was 11 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:41.920 the second time in three weeks that he had missed 12 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:44.960 an evening at the community center, a rash act, since 13 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:47.159 you could be certain that the number of your attendances 14 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.960 at the center was carefully checked. In principle, a party 15 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:53.479 member had no spare time and was never alone except 16 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:57.439 in bed. It was assumed that when he was not working, eating, 17 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.159 or sleeping, he would be taking part in sight some 18 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.880 kind of communal recreation. To do anything that suggested a 19 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.560 taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, 20 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.319 was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it 21 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:14.239 in New Speak own life. It was called meaning individualism 22 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:18.040 and eccentricity. But this evening, as he came out of 23 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:20.840 the ministry, the balminess of the april air had tempted him. 24 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:23.519 The sky was a warmer blue than he had seen 25 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:26.319 it that year, And suddenly the long, noisy evening at 26 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.719 the center, the boring, exhausting games, the lectures, the creaking 27 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:35.599 camaraderie oiled by gin had seemed intolerable. On impulse, he 28 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:37.719 had turned away from the bus stop and wandered off 29 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:41.719 into the labyrinth of London, first south, then east, then 30 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:45.480 north again, losing himself among unknown streets, and hardly bothering 31 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.239 in which direction he was going. If there is hope, 32 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:51.680 he had written in the Diary, it lies in the prolls. 33 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:55.040 The words kept coming back to him, statement of a 34 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:58.879 mystical truth and a palpable absurdity. He was somewhere in 35 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:01.439 the vague, brown colored slums to the north and east 36 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:05.000 of what had once been Saint Pancras Station. He was 37 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.719 walking up a cobbled street of little two story houses 38 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.120 with battered doorways which gave straight on the pavement, and 39 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:14.919 which were somehow curiously suggestive of rat holes. There were 40 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.599 puddles of filthy water here and there among the cobbles, 41 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:20.919 in and out of the dark doorways and down narrow 42 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:24.360 alleyways that branched off on either side. People swarmed in 43 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.800 astonishing numbers, girls in full bloom with crudely lipsticked mouths, 44 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.520 and youths who chased the girls, and swollen, waddling women 45 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.439 who showed you what the girls would be like in 46 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.120 ten years time. And old bent creatures shuffling along on 47 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.560 splayed feet, and ragged, barefooted children who played in the 48 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.280 puddles and then scattered at angry yells from their mothers. 49 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:47.400 Perhaps a quarter of the windows in the street were 50 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.599 broken and boarded up. Most of the people paid no 51 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:53.479 attention to Winston. A few eyed him with a sort 52 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:57.719 of guarded curiosity. Two monstrous women with brick red forearms 53 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.879 folded across their aprons were talking outside a doorway. Winston 54 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:06.479 caught scraps of conversation as he approached. Yes, I says 55 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.400 to her. That's all very well, I says, But if 56 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:11.240 you'd have been in my place, you'd have done the 57 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:14.599 same as what I've done. It's easy to criticize, I says, 58 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.039 but you ain't got the same problems as what I got, 59 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:21.240 Ah said the other. That's just it, that's just where 60 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:26.759 it is. The strident voices stopped abruptly. The women studied 61 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:30.039 him in hostile silence as he went past. But it 62 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.639 was not hostility exactly, merely a kind of weariness, a 63 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:37.360 momentary stiffening, as at the passing of some unfamiliar animal. 64 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:40.520 The blue overalls of the party could not be a 65 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:43.639 common sight in a street like this. Indeed, it was 66 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.080 unwise to be seen in such places unless you had 67 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.479 definite business there. The patrols might stop you if you 68 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.120 happened to run into them. May I see your papers, comrade? 69 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.159 What are you doing here? What time did you leave work? 70 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.240 Is this your usual way home? And so on and 71 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:02.360 so forth. Not that there was any rule against walking 72 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.199 home by an unusual route, but it was enough to 73 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:07.759 draw attention to you if the thought police heard about it. 74 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.879 Suddenly the whole street was in commotion. There were yells 75 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.560 of warning from all sides. People were shooting into the 76 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.839 doorways like rabbits. A young woman leapt out of doorway 77 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.480 a little ahead of Winston, grabbed up. A tiny child 78 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.079 playing in a puddle, whipped her apron round it, and 79 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.800 leaped back again, all in one movement. At the same instant, 80 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:30.519 a man in a concertina like black suit, who had 81 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:34.160 emerged from a side alley, ran towards Winston, pointing excitedly 82 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:38.879 to the sky Steamer. He yelled, look out guv'nor bang 83 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:43.160 over d lay down. Quick Steamer was a nickname which, 84 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.120 for some reason, the Proles applied to rocket bombs. Winston 85 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:50.399 promptly flung himself on his face. The proles were nearly 86 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:52.600 always right when they gave you a warning of this kind. 87 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:56.040 They seemed to possess some kind of instinct which told 88 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.639 them several seconds in advance when a rocket was coming. 89 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:04.079 Although the rockets supper traveled faster than sound. Winston clasped 90 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:07.120 his forearms above his head. There was a roar which 91 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.279 seemed to make the pavement heave a shower of light 92 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.399 objects pattered on to his back. When he stood up, 93 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:15.480 he found that he was covered with fragments of glass. 94 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:20.600 From the nearest window he walked on, a bomb had 95 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.240 demolished group of houses two hundred meters up the street. 96 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.639 A black plume of smoke hung in the sky, and 97 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:28.800 below it a cloud of plaster dust, in which a 98 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:32.560 crowd was already forming Around the ruins. There was a 99 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:35.399 little pile of plaster lying on the pavement ahead of him, 100 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:37.079 and in the middle of it he could see a 101 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.399 bright red streak. When he got up to it, he 102 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:42.839 saw that it was a human hand severed at the wrist. 103 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.639 Apart from the bloody stump, the hand was so completely 104 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.920 whitened as to resemble a plaster cast. He kicked the 105 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:53.319 thing into the gutter, and then, to avoid the crowd, 106 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:56.959 turned down a side street to the right. Within three 107 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:58.839 or four minutes he was out of the area which 108 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:01.879 the bomb had effected, and the sordid, swarming life of 109 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.160 the streets was going on as though nothing had happened. 110 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.680 It was nearly twenty hours, and the drinking shops which 111 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:11.000 the proles frequented, pubs they called them, were choked with 112 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:15.480 customers from their grimy swing doors, endlessly opening and shutting. 113 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.759 There came forth a smell of urine, sawdust and sour bier. 114 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.360 In an angle formed by a projecting house front, three 115 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.319 men were standing very close together, the middle, one of 116 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:27.720 them holding a folded up newspaper, which the other two 117 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:31.600 were studying over his shoulder. Even before he was near 118 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.399 enough to make out the expression on their faces, Winston 119 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.519 could see absorption in every line of their bodies. It 120 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:40.199 was obviously some serious piece of news that they were reading. 121 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.319 He was a few paces away from them when suddenly 122 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.360 the group broke up, and two of the men were 123 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.920 in violent altercation. For a moment, they seemed almost on 124 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.639 the point of blows. Can't you bleeding well? Listen to 125 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.759 what I say. I tell you, no number ending in seven, 126 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.360 ain't one for over fourteen months? Yes it has? Then, 127 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.680 no it has not. Back home, I got the old 128 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:04.759 lot of em for over two years, wrote down on 129 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:07.839 a piece of paper. I take them down regular as 130 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:12.120 the clock, and I tell you no number ending in seven, Yes, 131 00:07:12.279 --> 00:07:15.120 a seven as one. I could pretty near tell you 132 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:18.879 the bleeding number four O seven had ended in it. 133 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:23.240 Were in February, second week, in February February, your grandmother. 134 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:25.040 I got it all downe in black and white, and 135 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:27.319 I tell you no number. I'll pack it in, said 136 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:31.480 the third man. They were talking about the lottery. Winston 137 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.600 looked back. When he had gone thirty meters, they were 138 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:39.279 still arguing with vivid, passionate faces. The lottery, with its 139 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.360 weekly pay out of enormous prizes, was the one public 140 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.560 event to which the prolls paid serious attention. It was 141 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.000 probable that there were some millions of prolls for whom 142 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:50.360 the lottery was the principle, if not the only, reason 143 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:55.079 for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, 144 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:59.480 their intellectual stimulant. Where the lottery was concerned. Even people 145 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:02.000 who could bear barely read and write seemed capable of 146 00:08:02.040 --> 00:08:06.040 intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a 147 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.240 whole tribe of men who made a living simply by 148 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:13.040 selling systems, forecasts and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to 149 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:15.040 do with the running of the lottery, which was managed 150 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:18.240 by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware, indeed 151 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:20.639 every one in the Party was aware, that the prizes 152 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.720 were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, 153 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:27.680 the winners of the big prizes being non existent persons. 154 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:31.480 In the absence of any real intercommunication between one part 155 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:34.759 of Oceania and another, this was not difficult to arrange, 156 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:38.159 but if there was hope, it lay in the prolls. 157 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.679 You had to cling on to that. When you put 158 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.240 it in words, it sounded reasonable. It was when you 159 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:46.480 looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement 160 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.759 that it became an act of faith. The street into 161 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.879 which he had turned ran downhill. He had a feeling 162 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.240 that he had been in this neighborhood before, and that 163 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.879 there was a main thoroughfare not far away from Somewhere 164 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:02.080 ahead there came a dinner sh shouting voices. The street 165 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.159 took a sharp turn and then ended in a flight 166 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:06.919 of steps, which led down into a sunken alley where 167 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:10.799 a few stall keepers were selling tired looking vegetables. At 168 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.159 this moment, Winston remembered where he was. The alley led 169 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:17.080 out into the main street and down the next turning. 170 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:19.720 Not five minutes away was the junk shop where he 171 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.960 had bought the blank book which was now his diary, 172 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.279 And in a small stationer's shop not far away, he 173 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.360 had bought his pen holder and his bottle of ink. 174 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:31.639 He paused for a moment at the top of the steps. 175 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:33.919 On the opposite side of the alley, there was a 176 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.720 dingy little pub whose windows appeared to be frosted over. 177 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.399 But in reality they were merely coated with dust. A 178 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:43.720 very old man, bent but active, with white mustaches that 179 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:46.799 bristled forward like those of a prawn, pushed open the 180 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.480 swing door and went in. As Winston stood watching, it 181 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.519 occurred to him that the old man, who must be 182 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.360 eighty at the least, had already been middle aged when 183 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.799 the Revolution happened. He and a few others like him 184 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:01.120 were the last links that now existed with the vanished 185 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.840 world of capitalism. In the Party itself, there were not 186 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:08.080 many people left whose ideas had been formed before the revolution. 187 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.639 The older generation had mostly been wiped out in the 188 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:14.480 great purges of the fifties and sixties, and the few 189 00:10:14.519 --> 00:10:18.320 who survived had long ago been terrified into complete intellectual surrender. 190 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:21.519 If there was any one still alive who could give 191 00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:23.799 you a truthful account of conditions in the early part 192 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:27.559 of the century, it could only be a prol Suddenly, 193 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.720 the passage from the history book that he had copied 194 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.759 into his diary came back into Winston's mind, and a 195 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:36.000 lunatic impulse took hold of him. He would go into 196 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.720 the pub. He would scrape acquaintance with that old man 197 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:42.360 and question him. He would say to him. Tell me 198 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.639 about your life when you were a boy. What was 199 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.159 it like in those days? Were things better than they 200 00:10:47.159 --> 00:10:51.320 are now? Or were they worse? Hurriedly, lest he should 201 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:53.919 have time to become frightened, he descended the steps and 202 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:58.080 crossed the narrow street. It was madness, of course, as usual. 203 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.559 There was no definite rule against talking to polls and 204 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.639 frequenting their pubs, but it was far too unusual an 205 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.320 action to pass unnoticed. If the patrols appeared, he might 206 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:10.200 plead an attack of faintness, but it was not likely 207 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.320 that they would believe him. He pushed open the door, 208 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:16.039 and a hideous, cheesy smell of sour bier hit him 209 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:19.360 in the face. As he entered the dinner voices dropped 210 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.720 to about half its volume. Behind his back, he could 211 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.480 veel everyone eyeing his blue overalls. A game of darts, 212 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.039 which was going on at the other end of the 213 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.399 room interrupted itself for perhaps as much as thirty seconds. 214 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:34.639 The old man whom he had followed was standing at 215 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.679 the bar, having some kind of altercation with the bar man, 216 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:41.639 a large, stout, hook nosed young man with enormous forearms. 217 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.759 A knot of others standing round with glasses in their hands, 218 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:50.320 were watching the scene. I asked you civil enough, didn't 219 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.799 I said the old man, straightening his shoulders. Pugnaciously You 220 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.000 telling me you ain't got a pint, mug in the 221 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.679 old bleeding boozer. And what in Hell's name is a pint? 222 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.799 Said the barman, leaning forward with the tips of his 223 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.519 fingers on the counter. A hark at him, called his 224 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.559 self a barman, And don't know what a pint is? 225 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:12.519 Why a pint's the half of a court, and there's 226 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.240 four courts to the gallon. Have to teach you the 227 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.279 A B. C. Next Never heard of him, said the barman, 228 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.080 shortly lid he a half liter. That's all we serve. 229 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.320 There's the glasses on the shelf in front of you. 230 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.919 I likes a pint, persisted the old man. You could 231 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:31.840 have drawed me off a pint easy enough. We didn't 232 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.039 have these bleeding leaders when I was a young man, 233 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.480 when you were a young man. We were all living 234 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:39.600 in the tree tops, said the barman, with a glance 235 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.399 at the other customers. There was a shout of laughter, 236 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.840 and the uneasiness caused by Winston's entry seemed to disappear. 237 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.480 The old man's white, stubbled face had flushed pink. He 238 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.399 turned away, muttering to himself, and bumped into Winston. Winston 239 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:58.279 caught him gently by the arm. May I offer you 240 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:01.679 a drink? He said, You're a gent, said the other, 241 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.159 straightening his shoulders again. He appeared not to have noticed 242 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:09.679 Winston's blue overalls. Pint, he added aggressively to the barman. 243 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:14.240 Pint of wallop. The barman swished two half liters of 244 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.879 dark brown beer into thick glasses, which he had rinsed 245 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:20.039 in a bucket under the counter. Beer was the only 246 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.960 drink you could get in proll pubs. The Pells were 247 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:25.399 supposed not to drink gin, though in practice they could 248 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.679 get hold of it easily enough. The game of darts 249 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:30.799 was in full swing again, and the knot of men 250 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:34.720 at the bar had begun talking about lottery tickets. Winston's 251 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.759 presence was forgotten for a moment. There was a deal 252 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.240 table under the window where he and the old man 253 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:44.320 could talk without fear of being overheard. It was horribly dangerous, 254 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:46.440 but at any rate, there was no telescreen in the room, 255 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:48.519 a point he had made sure of as soon as 256 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:52.639 he came in. He could have drawed me off a pint, 257 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.360 grumbled the old man as he settled down behind a glass. 258 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:59.559 A hah, fleeterer ain't enough. Don't satisfy. O'll lead us 259 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.679 too much. It starts my bladder running. Let alone the price. 260 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.480 You must have seen great changes since you were a 261 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:12.039 young man, said Winston tentatively. The old man's pale blue 262 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:14.159 eyes moved from the dart's board to the bar, and 263 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.559 from the bar to the door of the gents, as 264 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.440 though it were in the bar room that he expected 265 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:23.480 the changes to have occurred. The bier was better, he said, finally, 266 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.360 and cheaper. When I was a young man, mild beer 267 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:30.399 wallot we used to call it was fourpence a pint. 268 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:34.840 That was before the war. Of course, which war was that? 269 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:39.080 Said Winston. It's all wars, said the old man vaguely. 270 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:42.080 He took up his glass and his shoulders straightened again. 271 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.039 He is wishing you the very best of ealth. In 272 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:48.600 his lean throat. The sharp pointed Adam's apple made a 273 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.080 surprisingly rapid up and down movement, and the bier vanished. 274 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.279 Winston went to the bar and came back with two 275 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:58.440 more half liters. The old man appeared to have forgotten 276 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:03.480 his prejudice against drinking a full You are very much 277 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.759 older than I am, said Winston. You must have been 278 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.720 a grown man before I was born. You can remember 279 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.120 what it was like in the old days before the Revolution. 280 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:14.639 People of my age don't really know anything about those times. 281 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.440 We can only read about them in books, and what 282 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:19.840 it says in the books may not be true. I 283 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.840 should like your opinion on that. The history books say 284 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:25.440 that life before the Revolution was completely different from what 285 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:29.120 it is now. There was the most terrible oppression in justice, 286 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:33.000 poverty worse than anything we can imagine. Here in London. 287 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:34.919 The great mass of people never had enough to eat 288 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:38.240 from birth to death. Half of them hadn't even boots 289 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.000 on their feet. They worked twelve hours a day, They 290 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:44.360 left school at nine. They slept ten in a room. 291 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.759 And at the same time there were very few people, 292 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.000 only a few thousands. The capitalists they were called, who 293 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.000 were rich and powerful. They owned everything that there was 294 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:56.840 to own. They lived in great, gorgeous houses with thirty servants. 295 00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:59.720 They rode about in motor cars and four horse carriages. 296 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.799 They drank champagne. They wore top hats. The old man 297 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:08.080 brightened suddenly, top hats. He said, funny, you should mention 298 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.960 em the same thing coming to my aid only yesterday. 299 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.559 I don't know why. I was just thinking, I ain't 300 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:16.360 seen a top hat in years. Gone Right out they have. 301 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.240 The last time I wore one was at my sister 302 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:23.200 in law's funeral, and that was well. I couldn't give 303 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.240 you the date, but it must have been fifty years ago. 304 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.960 Of course, it was only I had for the occasion. 305 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:31.879 You understand, it isn't very important about the top hats, 306 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:36.080 said Winston patiently. The point is these capitalists, they and 307 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:38.279 a few lawyers and priests and so forth who lived 308 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.720 on them, were the lords of the earth. Everything existed 309 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.159 for their benefit. You, the ordinary people, the workers, were 310 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:47.799 their slaves. They could do what they liked with you. 311 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:51.039 They could ship you off to Canada like cattle. They 312 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.639 could sleep with your daughters if they chose. They could 313 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:56.799 order you to be flogged with something called a cat'nine tails. 314 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.399 You had to take your cap off when you passed them. 315 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.279 Very capitalists went about with a gang of lackeys, who 316 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:06.640 the old man brightened again. Lackeys, he said. Now there's 317 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.960 a word I ain't heerd since ever so long. Lackeys 318 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.759 that regular takes me back, that does I recollect ooh donkeys? 319 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.799 Years ago I used to go sometimes to ide Park 320 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.359 of a Sunday afternoon to hear the blokes making speeches Salvation, Army, 321 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:27.039 Roman Catholics, Jews, Indians, all sorts there was. And there 322 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.680 was one bloke, well, I couldn't give you his name, 323 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.759 but a real powerful speaker he was. He didn't half 324 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:37.279 give it him. Lackeys, he says, lackeys of the bourgeoisie, 325 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:41.480 flunkys of the ruling class, parasites. That was another of 326 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:46.119 em and dienas he definitely called him hyaenas of course 327 00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:49.519 he was referring to the Labor Party. You understand, Winston 328 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.839 had the feeling that they were talking at cross purposes. 329 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:55.400 What I really wanted to know was this, He said, 330 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.920 do you feel that you have more freedom now than 331 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:00.400 you had in those days? You treated me like a 332 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.640 human being in the old days? The rich people, the 333 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.519 people at the top, the ass of lords put in 334 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.200 the old Man reminiscently the House of Lords. If you like, 335 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.359 What I am asking is, were these people able to 336 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:15.759 treat you as an inferior simply because they were rich 337 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.440 and you were poor? Is it a fact, for instance, 338 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.720 that you had to call them sir and take off 339 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:24.880 your cap when you passed them. The old man appeared 340 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.880 to think deeply. He drank off about a quarter of 341 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:33.119 his bier before answering yes. He said, they liked you 342 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.960 to touch your cap to em. It showed respect, Like 343 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.359 I didn't agree with it myself, but I'd done it 344 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:43.000 often enough. Add to as you might say, and was 345 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:45.640 it usual? I'm only quoting what I've read in history books. 346 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.160 Was it usual for these people and their servants to 347 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.160 push you off the pavement into the gutter? One of 348 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.559 em pushed me once, said the old man. I recollected, 349 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.720 as if it was yesterday. It was the boat race night, 350 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:00.960 terribly rowdy. They used to get on boat race. And 351 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:03.599 I bumps into a young bloke on Shafts re Avenue, 352 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:07.759 quite a gent. He was dressed shirt top, hat, black overcoat. 353 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:10.920 He was kind of zig zagging across the pavement and 354 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.559 I bumps into an accidental like. He says, why can't 355 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.079 you look where you're going? He says, I say, do 356 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:21.759 you think you've bought the bleeding pavement? He says, I'll 357 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:23.960 twist your bloody head off if you get fresh with me, 358 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.680 I says, you're drunk. I'll give you in charge in 359 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.680 half a minute, I says, And if you'll believe me, 360 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:32.839 he puts his hand on my chest and gives me 361 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:34.920 a shove as pretty near sent me under the wheels 362 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.960 of a bus. Well, I was young in them days, 363 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.680 and I was going to have fetched him one. Only 364 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:43.599 a sense of helplessness took hold of Winston. The old 365 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:46.119 Man's memory was nothing but a rubbish heap of details. 366 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.720 One could question him all day without getting any real information. 367 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.079 The party histories might still be true, after a fashion, 368 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:56.960 they might even be completely true. He made a last attempt. 369 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:01.240 Perhaps I've not made myself clear, he said. What I'm 370 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:03.880 trying to say is this. You've been alive a very 371 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.839 long time. You lived half your life before the revolution 372 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:10.599 in nineteen twenty five, for instance, you were already grown up. 373 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:13.799 Would you say, from what you can remember, that life 374 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:16.000 in nineteen twenty five was better than it is now 375 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.799 or worse? If you could choose, would you prefer to 376 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:23.559 live then or now? The old man looked meditatively at 377 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:26.480 the dart sport. He finished up his bier more slowly 378 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:29.599 than before. When he spoke it was with a tolerant, 379 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:34.160 philosophical air, as though the beer had mellowed him. I 380 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.720 know what you expect me to say, he said, you 381 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:39.720 expect me to say, I'd sooner be young again. Most 382 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.480 people would say they'd sooner be young if you asked em. 383 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.640 You got your health and strength when you're young. When 384 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:47.759 you get to my time of life, you ain't never well. 385 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:51.359 I suffer something wicked from my feet and my bladder's 386 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.599 jest terrible, six and seven times a night. It has 387 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.279 me out of bed. On the other hand, there's great 388 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.720 advantages in being an old man. You ain't got the 389 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:03.240 same worries. No truck with women, and that's a great thing. 390 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.960 I ain't ad a woman for near on thirty years, 391 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:10.960 if you'd credit it, nor wanted to. What's more, Winston 392 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.440 sat back against the window sill. It was no use 393 00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:15.799 going on. He was about to buy some more beer 394 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.240 when the old man suddenly got up and shuffled rapidly 395 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.359 into the stinking urinal at the side of the room. 396 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:25.319 The extra half liter was already working on him. Winston 397 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:27.720 sat for a minute or two gazing at his empty glass, 398 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.359 and hardly noticed when his feet carried him out into 399 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.240 the street again within twenty years at the most. He 400 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:37.839 reflected the huge and simple question, was life better before 401 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:40.640