Strange but True — The Great London Smog

In December of 1952, London residents experienced five full days of continuous, thickly-blanketed smog. Mist and fog are not uncommon in Britain, particularly in autumn and winter, but what made this season especially deadly, was the high levels of air pollution mixed in the atmosphere.

Nelson’s Column during the Great Smog of 1952 — N T Stobbs, CC BY-SA 2.0

It began on the 5th December, following an unusually cold period that saw homes and businesses burning large…