The term "Room 101" was first devised by the political writer and novellist George Orwell, (real name, Eric Arthur Blair), in the famous novel Nineteen Eighty-four . Published in 1949, this groundbreaking novel was written with the intent of merging political writing with the style of the novellist, and coined new words of warning for us, many of which have passed into the vernacular.

• Big Brother

  The terrifyingly reassuring leader of the totalitarian state of Oceania, whose obsession with thought control prompted the installation of all-seeing "telescreens" in all homes and public places which could not be switched off, and transmitted surveillance information back to The Party.

• Goldstein

  The arch-traitor, from whose teachings and inspiration all forms of dissent, terrorism and sabotage sprung.

• The Thought Police

  A branch of the government whose aim was to make all forms of thought contrary to the Party's doctrine of "IngSoc" illegal. In the eyes of the Thought Police, there was no distinction between the thought and the act, so that contemplating or planning a crime incurred the same penalty as carrying it out.

• Newspeak

  The official language of the State of Oceania - a form of abbreviated jargon consisting of euphemisms such as "JoyCamp" (concentration camp), in which the primary aim was the destruction of heretical thought by the continuous reduction of the official vocabulary, making it impossible to argue against the principles of Ingsoc.

• Doublethink

  The practice of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, believing them both to be true, and failing to see any contradiction. Exemplified in Party slogans such as "War is Peace" and "Freedom is Slavery"

• Room101

  A unique place in the Ministry of Love where a person's greatest fears are made to come true, as a form of emotional manipulation.

  Room 101 Limited has no connection with the British Broadcasting Corporation, nor with the television programme entitled "Room 101"