Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Fascinating Horror
  • 17/10/2024
"On the 5th of December, 1952, an unusually heavy fog descended on London. It remained in place for five days, bringing the capital to a standstill…"

As always, THANK YOU to all my Patreon patrons: you make this channel possible.
https://www.patreon.com/fascinatinghorror

SOCIAL MEDIA:
► Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrueHorrorTales
► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fascinatinghorror
► Suggestions: hello@fascinatinghorror.co.uk

MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Creep" by Emmit Fenn

​​​​​​​#Documentary​​​​ #History​​​​​​​​​ #TrueStories​

Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00On the 5th of December, 1952, an unusually heavy fog descended on London in the UK. It remained
00:19in place for five days, bringing the capital to a standstill, and yet it caused no panic.
00:26Fog was a common phenomenon within London, and as dramatic as this fog was it was thought of
00:32as just another example of typically British weather. It wouldn't be until much later that
00:38the true cost of the Great Smog of 1952 was realized. London is an incredibly densely
00:47populated city. With so many people and so much industry concentrated in one place,
00:53it has always suffered from poorer air quality than other cities in the UK.
00:58Even in Victorian times the city was infamous for its foggy streets. Writers at the time referred
01:05to these fogs as pea soupers, an allusion to the color and density of the fog being similar to that
01:12of soup. There was some improvement in London's air quality as the city entered the 1900s,
01:20but by 1952 pollution was still very much a problem. At that time coal was still a common
01:27power source, with numerous coal-burning power plants situated within the boundaries of London.
01:33Coal was also an important domestic fuel. Londoners had been burning a great deal of
01:39it to heat their homes during the particularly cold winter of 1952. With the Second World War
01:47having concluded less than a decade ago resources were still a little thin on the ground. Most
01:53people, therefore, were reduced to burning low-quality coal which didn't combust very cleanly.
02:01The sum of all these factors was that London produced a huge amount of air pollution.
02:07Weather conditions on the 5th of December 1952 conspired to trap this pollution within the city.
02:14A complete lack of wind combined with a zone of high atmospheric pressure
02:19effectively pushing the warm air rising from chimneys and smokestacks straight back down to
02:25street level. The byproducts of domestic fireplaces and factories all over the city quickly formed a
02:33foggy blanket thick enough to cover all but the tallest of buildings. The fog was severe on the
02:40first day and it got worse with each day that passed, with factories continuing to belch
02:46pollution into the atmosphere at an astonishing rate. A million kilograms, or 1,000 metric tons,
02:54of smoke and two million kilograms, or 2,000 metric tons, of carbon dioxide, for example,
03:00were released each and every day, swamping the city. Londoners were used to fog, but this was
03:08on another level. This fog was extremely thick and dense, restricting visibility to just a few
03:16strides. In some places it had a yellowish or greenish hue, and many reported that it stank
03:23of rotten eggs... something which led people to don masks or other face coverings whenever they
03:29had to venture outside. Despite the noxious appearance of the fog few people were worried
03:35about air quality. Visibility was a much more pressing issue. The city's transport networks
03:42seized up. Barely any planes could take off or land, and the vast majority of flights were
03:48diverted to other airports. Buses and other forms of above-ground public transit were cancelled as
03:55drivers simply couldn't see far enough to safely complete their routes. This left the London
04:01Underground as the only available means of public transport for millions of Londoners.
04:08Private transport was equally affected. Roads became blocked by multiple accidents, and even
04:14those roads that were still moving were doing so with agonizing slowness. While the fog caused
04:22travel chaos it also represented an opportunity for thieves. With almost zero visibility and police
04:30unable to get around, crime skyrocketed. There were hundreds of reports of robberies and muggings,
04:37with the thieves getting away under cover of the fog. In addition to this wave of opportunistic
04:44crime most ordinary activities came to a halt. Sporting fixtures were called off when it became
04:51apparent that the spectators could not see the players, the players could not see one another,
04:57and nobody at all could see the ball. Workers were sent home from their offices or could not
05:03make it into work in the first place. Schools were closed, and even theatre performances were affected.
05:10Several were cancelled when fog seeped in through windows and doors and filled the auditorium.
05:18Personal accounts from those who were alive at the time give some idea of what it must have been
05:23like to navigate London during the smog. People recall feeling their way along hedges on their
05:30way to school and holding hands with their friends so as not to become separated. Elsewhere commuters
05:37were escorted through the streets by policemen bearing torches, or else used the light glinting
05:43off overhead electric trolley lines to find their way. When, or if, people arrived at their
05:49destinations many found their clothes blackened with soot and couldn't stop coughing for days.
05:57Some people reported taking lamps out into the street and still seeing nothing. Around the Isle
06:04of Dogs many people noted that the fog was too thick for them to even see their own feet.
06:10Doctors found themselves in high demand, but at the same time struggled to complete house calls
06:16because of the fog. Given that the underground was the only remaining viable way to get around,
06:23queues for tickets stretched into the thousands. For five days London endured the great smog,
06:32and then, as the weather changed, the fog cleared away. The city, which had been trapped in a
06:39perpetual twilight for five long days, started moving again. Roads cleared, bus services resumed,
06:47and Londoners returned to work after one of the strangest weekends that many had ever experienced.
06:55It took some time before the real impact of the fog was known. Respiratory illness is a quiet
07:01killer, and in this case those it killed were mostly the sick or the elderly. Doctors in hospitals
07:09across the capital noted that they'd experienced an unusually high level of mortality during the
07:15fog, and doubtless made an association between the two. The average Londoner, however, had no reason
07:22to think that the smog was anything other than just some very severe inclement weather. Months
07:29would pass before the wave of deaths and respiratory illnesses was noticed, and even once it
07:35had been noticed the impact was extremely difficult to gauge. Many of those who were affected didn't
07:42pass away during the fog, but instead had their lives massively shortened. Someone who died
07:50prematurely from respiratory illness a year after the great smog, for example, might not have been
07:56counted as part of the death toll. Even so, the most conservative estimates as to the number of deaths
08:02state that at least 4,000 people were killed by the smog.
08:08The smog and the chaos it caused were a wake-up call for many. Hundreds of those who endured it
08:15noted that the experience changed their attitude towards the environment. It certainly moved air
08:21quality up the political agenda, and in 1956 the Clean Air Act was introduced. This legislation
08:29made mandatory the use of smokeless fuels in built-up areas, and also limited the amount of
08:36air pollution factories were allowed to disperse into the atmosphere. While the Act itself has been
08:43updated and replaced several times over the years, many of its principles have remained in place to
08:49this day. As a consequence, the air quality in London has significantly improved. The most visible
08:57and odorous pollutants have been cracked down on particularly hard, leaving the city looking and
09:03smelling far better than it might have done 70 years ago. It is unlikely that there will ever
09:10be another incident like the Great Smog of 1952. However, the problem of air pollution in the city
09:17has not been resolved. By some estimates almost 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year as a
09:25result of air pollution. That's the same number as were killed by the Great Smog. In contrast to
09:31the Great Smog, though, these deaths occur year on year and are considered largely unremarkable.
09:40The Great Smog of London was dramatic and terrifying for those who endured it,
09:45but the dramatic nature of it was what opened the door to such decisive and meaningful change in
09:51the aftermath. Politicians and lawmakers couldn't ignore the issue of air pollution when they could
09:57both see and smell it in their streets. Given that another smog is unlikely to hit the city today,
10:05the issue of air pollution is one which still looms large, but which, at the same time,
10:12has become very easy to ignore.

Recommended

12:52
Up next
The Green Hornet Streetcar Crash | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
29/08/2024
10:39
The Eastland Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
16/10/2024
12:11
Windscale: The Story of "Britain's Chernobyl" | Historical Disaster Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
03/09/2024
12:17
The R101: "Britain's Hindenburg" | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
21/10/2024
13:38
The Carrington Event | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
28/08/2024
12:39
The Summerland Disaster | Historical Disaster Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
06/09/2024
11:33
A Brief History of Disastrous Gender Reveals | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
20/08/2024
10:03
The Italian Hall Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
22/10/2024
10:33
The Story of the Radium Girls | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
08/10/2024
9:45
Stories From Pearl Harbor | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
04/10/2024
12:29
The Hartford Circus Fire | Historical Disaster Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
10/09/2024
11:09
The Enschede Fireworks Incident | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
02/10/2024
12:26
The Cairngorm Plateau Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
09/10/2024
9:35
A Brief History of Multi-Vehicle Collisions | Historical Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
05/09/2024
10:51
The Yellowstone Hot Springs | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
16/09/2024
12:09
The Iroquois Theater Disaster | Historical Disaster Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
04/09/2024
10:38
The Disney World Monorail Incident | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
14/08/2024
44:04
Air crash investigation Special report S6E6 Reckless approaches (HD)
Un canal nada más
30/05/2025
3:25
Top 10 Tallest Giant Women In The World
Pastimers
05/04/2017
3:24
Unknown Shocking Facts About Mia Khalifa
Pastimers
02/03/2017
3:24
Top 10 Biggest Breasts Women In The World
Pastimers
25/02/2017
10:06
The Isla Nublar Incident | A Short "Documentary" | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
27/11/2024
10:59
The I-35W Bridge Failure | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
26/11/2024
10:30
The Dublin Whiskey Flood | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
25/11/2024
10:54
The Challenger Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
Fascinating Horror
22/11/2024