Orwell gets apology for rejection letter

A 73-year-old rebuff of George Orwell, author of “1984” and “Animal Farm,” recently came to light, and he received a belated apology Thursday. The British Council, which promotes international cultural relations, asked Orwell in 1946 to write an essay on British cuisine to convince European neighbors that the food did not deserve its poor reputation. But the council not only rejected Orwell’s essay, called “British Cookery,” it also rejected his recipe for orange marmalade. “Rather embarrassingly, we rejected the finest writer on politics of the 20th century in the English language,” said Alasdair Donaldson, senior policy analyst at the organization. FROM WIRE SERVICES