George Orwell would have approved of the "classless" transport I chose for retracing his road to Wigan Pier: a Mini. On further thought, that's tosh. Doubtless, the dour chronicler of Britain's 1930s class injustices would have regarded me as, like him, a member of the petit bourgeoisie, and on that basis would have preferred that I make the journey by horse and cart. To go by soulless car, train or aircraft is to endure an "interregnum, a kind of temporary death".

Orwell wrote that almost exactly 70 years ago and could not have appreciated that what he perceived as a temporary death now risks permanence on the high-speed, bad-tempered M6. His judgment would be harsh indeed when applied to BMW's modern take on the original Mini, launched in 1959 and eventually driven by everyone from prince to pop star to pauper.