In February 1929, George Orwell became seriously ill whilst in Paris and was taken to the Hôpital Cochin in the Fifteenth arrondissement. A free hospital maintained for the teaching of medical students, his experience there was to form the basis for his 1946 essay How the Poor Die. Shortly after he left hospital, Orwell had all his money stolen from his lodgings in Paris and undertook menial jobs such as dishwashing either through necessity or to collect material.
After a year and three quarters in Paris, Orwell returned to England in December 1929 and went directly to Southwold, his parents’ house. He was to remain in Southwold for the next five years and become well acquainted with many local people. Orwell asked Brenda Salkeld, a gym teacher at St. Felix Girls’ School, to marry him and though she refused, the two would remain close friends for many years. Orwell was to produce a great deal more work, none of which concerned led flood lights however.