The Greatest London Fog That Took Thousands of Lives

Bright Side

Back in December 1952, London experienced a fog like no other—it was thick, yellowish, and downright deadly. This wasn’t just regular fog; it was smog, a toxic mix of fog and smoke from coal burning. For five days, the city was practically blinded, and people could barely see a few feet ahead. Breathing it in was even worse—it caused severe respiratory issues, and sadly, it’s estimated that over 4,000 people died during the event, with thousands more falling sick. It was a wake-up call for environmental action, leading to laws like the Clean Air Act to prevent such disasters. The “Great Smog” showed how dangerous pollution could be and why we need to keep our air clean.  Credit: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0: The main drainage: By Wellcome Images - https://wellcomecollection.org/search/works?query=M0011720, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36351119 Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00On December 5, 1952, a nauseating yellow-gray fog engulfed London, claiming 12,000 lives.

00:09This wasn't mere mist.

00:11It stank of rotting eggs and stretched 30 miles wide.

00:15Buses halted, planes were grounded, and ambulances were trapped.

00:19For five days, the city vanished in the stench and sludge.

00:23Streets slipped with a black ooze.

00:25Those who dared ventured out stumbled blindly, smudging their faces while birds crashed into

00:31buildings.

00:32With visibility zero, thieves ran rampant, and even indoor shows were canceled.

00:38The great smoke sent over 100,000 people to hospitals, leaving a grim legacy of demise

00:44and decay.

00:47The causes of this tragedy started long into the past.

00:51Something called pea-soup fog became one of the symbols of London in the 19th century.

00:57Nature wasn't to blame for this fog.

00:59It was caused by people burning coal to heat their homes and run factories.

01:04In fact, London's air started getting smoky all the way back in the 13th century, when

01:09people began widely using coal.

01:12It got worse as the city grew bigger.

01:14By the 17th century, people were already complaining about the dirty air.

01:19King James I tried to prevent so much coal-burning with new laws, but nothing really changed.

01:25As more factories popped up during the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, the problem

01:31blew out of proportion.

01:32The air was full of tiny particles that water clung to and formed dark heavy clouds.

01:38This mix of smoke and fog became so bad, people called it smog.

01:44This word was invented in London in the early 20th century.

01:48The smog got so thick sometimes it could last for a whole week, and it made people

01:53ill.

01:54Some even passed away because of it.

01:57Even though the smog was harmful, people didn't want to stop using coal because it gave them

02:02jobs and kept their homes warm.

02:04So the problem lingered.

02:07By the 20th century, thick fogs were happening less frequently, finally, because factories

02:12started moving away from the city.

02:15On that December day in 1952, an anti-cyclone appeared over London.

02:21This meant that the cold air near the ground got trapped under warmer air higher up, like

02:26a lid keeping everything underneath.

02:29Because of this, all the smoke from factories, cars, and home fireplaces couldn't float

02:34up and away like usual.

02:36Instead, it clung near the ground, mixed with water in the air, and produced an extremely

02:41thick dirty fog.

02:43Plus, daylight in December is shorter, and it was really cold.

02:47So people had to use even more coal for heating and lighting than they normally did.

02:52All this led to a disaster.

02:55It was clear that sulfur particles from the burning coal made the fog yellow and smell

02:59like rotten eggs.

03:01But scientists couldn't figure out why and how these particles turned into sulfuric acid.

03:07Decades later, an international team of researchers recreated that scary fog in a lab.

03:13They used samples of air and atmospheric measurements from the fog in two large Chinese cities that

03:19have high levels of sulfur dioxide in the air, just like London during the Great Smoke.

03:25They learned that the thick dirty air, called haze, doesn't form in the same way in London

03:30and in China.

03:32In London's fog, smoke from burning coal released two gases – sulfur dioxide and

03:38nitrogen dioxide.

03:40These gases mixed with water droplets in the fog, which made it harmless at first because

03:45the water diluted the harmful chemicals.

03:48But as the water evaporated, and there was nothing to dilute the two dioxides, the fog

03:53became very acidic and hazardous to breathe, so it damaged people's lungs.

03:58In present-day China, things are a little different.

04:01A third chemical, ammonia, joins the mix.

04:05Now ammonia, which comes from farms and cars, helps balance out the acidity of the fog,

04:10so it's less harmful than London's deadly fog.

04:13But the scientists found that cutting down on nitrogen dioxide and ammonia could still

04:18help China reduce its air quality problems.

04:22They hope that their discovery will help both understand London's past fogs and give China

04:27ideas for making its air cleaner.

04:30It could also save the health of millions of people around the world who are now living

04:34in cities with bad air quality.

04:37After the terrible fog of 1952, everyone realized how serious London's air problem was.

04:44Four years later, the British authorities created a law called the Clean Air Act to

04:49stop something like that from happening again.

04:51This law banned people from burning smoky fuels like coal in their homes or in factory

04:57furnaces in some parts of the city.

04:59To help people adjust, the authorities gave them money so that they could switch to cleaner

05:04heating options like oil, natural gas, or electricity.

05:09It took time for these changes to make a big difference, and sadly, another dangerous smog

05:14happened in 1962.

05:16But the Clean Air Act was a very important first step for protecting the environment

05:20and people's health.

05:23Almost a century before the Great Smoke, another smelly event happened to London – the Great

05:29Stink.

05:30Back then, people didn't have proper bathrooms or sewers, and all the waste from houses and

05:35factories went straight into the river Thames.

05:38When the weather got super hot in July and August, the water level in the river went

05:43down, and piles of waste, sometimes 6 feet, popped up on the muddy banks.

05:49The smell was so terrible that even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had to cancel their

05:54relaxing boat ride on the river.

05:56The politicians working in the brand-new Parliament buildings, which were right by

06:00the river, couldn't handle the smell either.

06:03The air inside was so terrible that they had to hold handkerchiefs over their noses to

06:07breathe.

06:08They even tried soaking the curtains in chloride of lime, hoping it would cover up the horrible

06:13odor.

06:14Many Londoners believe that the bad air, called miasma, caused horrible things like cholera,

06:20which had already taken the lives of lots of people.

06:23Engineer Joseph Basil Getty solved the problem as he built a new sewer system that would

06:28move all the waste away from the city.

06:30His sewer system was so well-designed that it still works today, even though London has

06:35grown to over 8 million people.

06:39On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, there was also a day when you

06:43couldn't see your hand before your face, and it was impossible to breathe outside.

06:48But the reasons for this Black Sunday were very different from the Great Smoke of London.

06:54In 1931, it almost completely stopped raining in the southern Great Plains.

06:59This drought lasted for nearly 10 years.

07:02Without rain, the farms dried up, and the soil turned to dust.

07:06Strong winds blew this dry dirt into the air and created huge dust storms.

07:11These storms, called black blizzards, made it hard to breathe and see anything.

07:16People tried to protect themselves by putting Vaseline in their noses, wearing masks, and

07:21sealing their homes.

07:22But the dust still made many of them sick.

07:25In 1934, things got even worse.

07:28It was the driest year in over a thousand years.

07:32Temperatures went over 100 degrees for weeks, and the land became even drier.

07:37On April 14, 1935, after months of terrible weather, the sky finally looked clear, and

07:43there was barely any wind, which was rare for this area.

07:47People came outside as they were hoping that the worst was finally over.

07:52When Oklahoma Minister announced that a few good rainstorms would make the land fertile

07:56again.

07:57But unfortunately, that morning, a cold wind from Canada met warm air in the Dakotas and

08:03started a massive dust storm.

08:05The storm grew to hundreds of miles wide and thousands of feet tall.

08:09A sunny day instantly became completely dark.

08:13Drivers had to hide in their cars, and other people went down into basements, found refuge

08:18in barns, fire stations, tornado shelters, and under their beds to stay safe.

08:24The storm didn't stop for hours and took at least 20 lives.

08:28Many people couldn't stop coughing, and one man went blind.

08:32The storm was so strong, it carried 300,000 tons of dirt across the country and even reached

08:38the East Coast.

08:42That's it for today!

08:43So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

08:47friends!

08:48Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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