Someone told me that George Orwell also known as Eric Blair believed the events in the book 1984 already were happening in 1948 so he switched the last two digits of the current year and changed it to 1984

It was supposedly published in 1949 but that does not mean he did not start writing or thinking about the book in 1948 or earlier

Now 1948 is the same year that Israel was incorrectly recognised as a nation