Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell

Written in the 1930s this slim volume relates the young Orwell’s personal experience of extreme poverty in the two cities.

In Paris, out of money, he eventually secures a position as a ‘plongeur’, the lowest rated menial in a hotel or restaurant. This provides a pitiful income in exchange for long hours in the stifling heat of the kitchens with the valuable compensation of access to food. His fellow workers provide a treasury of tales of false hopes and ruined dreams. His income pays his rent and no more.

He returns to London on the promise of a job but when it is delayed he is forced to spend a month penniless in the capital. He joins the ranks of the itinerant tramps, kept moving by the vagrancy laws from ‘spike’ to ‘spike’ (a casual ward of the workhouse). From the old hands he learns survival techniques, which spikes are best, and the alternatives to institutional dormitories such as the accurately named two-penny hangover.

Orwell’s writing is clear, concise and is all the more affecting for being un-emotional. In the main he just reports the facts, reserving judgement to a couple of chapters where he sums up his personal opinions and offers simple if unconventional ideas to improve matters.

Is it of relevance today, or is it just of historic interest? It may be possible to judge if much has changed after reading the reputed modern equivalent - A Street Cat Named Bob. As a historic document its personal testimony delivered with a light touch makes it both informative and very readable.