Are they off their nuts?.. The British Library put Orwell, Wilde and Byron on the "list of shame"

So, Byron and Orwell were added to the list because of the great-grandfathers who owned slaves. And Wilde - because of his uncle's connection with slavery. At the same time, for example, Orwell was an anti-imperialist and a socialist, and his great-grandfather had already been buried by the time the writer was born, the newspaper notes.

Also on the list is the poet Ted Hughes, whose ancestor - Nicholas Ferrar - colonized North America back in 1592.

The British Library explained its position as follows: "Some of the items currently in our vaults, which previously belonged to certain figures, indicated today on the" pages of shame", are associated with wealth obtained from enslaved people or through acts of violence committed during colonial times"...

It is still unknown what measures will be taken against cultural figures who have been gone for a long time. It is also unclear if something threatens those who will read their works.