whose phrase is this?

[RENE]

who said: Big brother is watching you?

[dannydingbat]

Must be from 1984 by George Orwell

[valerieb1254]

It's from the George Orwell film 1984

[RENE]

yes but was it George Orwell who said this or a character from his film?

[Quizmonster]

Here's an extract from Chapter 6 of the novel...
"Winston sat in his usual corner, gazing into an empty glass. Now and again he glanced up at a vast face which eyed him from the opposite wall. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said."

That is, the phrase is a caption rather than a quote by a character. In that sense, therefore, it is Orwell who "says" it.

[RENE]

Do you also know who said or which programme the saying 'and now for something entirely different' came from? thanks

[mycatis]

"And now for something completely different" was from Monty Python

[Quizmonster]

Monty Python's Flying Circus and the words were often spoken by John Cleese, though I believe other performers in the show may also have said it.

[Quizmonster]

Ah! A bit of synchrography there, Mycatis...and well spotted on the wrong word!

[andy hughes]

The 'Now for something completely different ....' phrase was adopted by the Pythons from Blue Peter because they thought it represented the terribly 1950's cosy middle-class BBC, which was ripe for a ribbing!

[bernardo]

More specifically, it was the slogan of the Party which was used on propaganda posters, especially those portraying Big Brother himself. And it was not in the film "1984", nor in the book "1984". It was in the book "Nineteen Eighty-Four".

[Ward-Minter]

David Bowie.....

Don't talk of dust and roses
Or should we powder our noses?
Don't live for last year's capers
Give me steel, give me steel, give me pulsars unreal

He'll build a glass asylum
With just a hint of mayhem
He'll build a better whirlpool
We'll be living from sin,
then we can really begin

Please saviour, saviour, show us
Hear me, I'm graphically yours

[CHORUS]
Someone to claim us, someone to follow

Someone to shame us, some brave Apollo

Someone to fool us, someone like you
We want you Big Brother, Big Brother

I know you think you're awful square

But you made everyone and you've been every where
Lord, I'd take an overdose if you knew what's going down

[CHORUS (3 times)]

We want you Big Brother

[flashpig]

Wow Ward-Minter, you're just like James Blunt!

[Ward-Minter]

and mr Flashpig, you are just like Sir Kenneth McCloud

[flashpig]

He sounds cool. Thank you.

[jno]

In the Leaping Nuns section of the original Bedazzled film, there was a poster on the convent wall reading Big Sister is Watching You. Just thought I'd mention that.

[Quizmonster]

It's a heckuva long time since I read the novel, but I do not believe anyone in the story ever actually says: "Big Brother is watching you!" It appears only as a poster-caption which is referred to several times.

[Aschenbach]

As long as you're not watching Big Brother.