The Great Smog of London

By: Mitch Tulley

History

• Between December 5th and December 9th 1952 a great smog enveloped London, England. It was the worst fog/smog in history. It was the usual fog that falls over London mixed together with smoke and exhaust from near-by factories and homes.

History Continued…

• This mixture was a deadly one and resulted in the death of 12,000 people. Not much is known as to what happened during those five days, but once the smog lifted, the damage could easily be seen. 4,000 people had died either during the time the smog was present or within a week after, and people were still dieing months after, so that when the final death tally came in it was right around 12,00 people dead.

Impact on Today

• Since the Great Smog several acts have been put into place to make sure that something like it never happens again. Parliament passed two clean air acts in 1956 then in 1968, which are still in place today.

Continued…

• Today London has 80 monitoring stations dotted all over the city. These stations measure the levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants to analyze how deadly the fog is on those particular days.

Works Cited

• BBC News, The Great Smog of London: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2545759.stm

• Google Images: The Great Smog of London: Http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%

• About.com: The Great Smog of 1952: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/greatsmog.htm