'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.' This is the opening sentence of the most influential novel of the twentieth century, in English or in any of the sixty or more other languages which boast a translation.

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been described as chilling, absorbing, satirical, momentous, prophetic and terrifying.

It is all these things, and more. Not only does the novel have a ferocious impact, it has also made an irreplaceable contribution to the language - Newspeak, Thought Police, Unperson and Doublethink are just a few of the concepts it introduced.

Nineteen Eighty-Four proved to be Orwell's last book - the physical effort of typing up the final draft leading to his eventual collapse from the TB that had dogged his later years.

He lived long enough to see it become an immediate bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

This edition, with an introduction by the distinguished novelist Robert Harris, marked the sixtieth anniversary of this great work's publication.