Memo criticising Orwell's voice

JB Clark, the Controller of Overseas Services, is the author of this memo wondering whether Orwell should be kept on the air due to the unattractive nature of his voice. Clark feared not only that the talks might be compromised by Orwell's vocal delivery, but also that the BBC could be criticised for giving airtime to somebody with such an unsuitable way of speaking.

Old Etonian Orwell would certainly have had an upper-class accent, but contemporaries recall that he had a somewhat strangulated delivery even before the bullet wound to his neck that he received fighting in the Spanish Civil War. The injury was such that it was not thought possible for Orwell to recover his voice, yet recover he did, and there is no evidence of his being taken off air as a result of this memo.