Great Smog of London

Sources of pollution in 1938 A period of unusually cold weather preceding and during the Great Smog led Londoners to burn much more coal than usual to keep themselves warm. While better-quality "hard" coals (such as anthracite) tended to be exported to pay off World War II debts, post-war domestic coal tended to be of a relatively low-grade, sulphurous variety called "nutty slack" (similar to lignite) which increased the amount of sulphur dioxide in the smoke. There were also numerous coal-fired electric power stations in the Greater London area, including Fulham, Battersea, Bankside, Greenwich, West Ham and Kingston upon Thames, all of which added to the pollution. According to the UK's Met Office, the following pollutants were emitted each day during the smoggy period: 1,000 tonnes of smoke particles, 140 tonnes of hydrochloric acid, 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds and 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide which may have been converted to 800 tonnes of sulphuric acid. The relatively large size of the water droplets in the London fog allowed for the production of sulphates without the acidity of the liquid rising high enough to stop the reaction, and for the resultant dilute acid to become concentrated when the fog was burned away by the sun. Research suggested that additional pollution-prevention systems fitted at Battersea worsened the air quality. Flue gas washing reduced the temperature of the flue gases so they did not rise, but instead slumped to ground level, causing a local nuisance. Additionally, there was pollution and smoke from vehicle exhaust, particularly from steam locomotives and diesel-fuelled buses which had replaced the recently abandoned electric tram system. The resultant fog, mixed with smoke from home and industrial chimneys, particulates such as those from motor vehicle exhausts, and other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, formed a persistent smog, which blanketed the capital the following day. The presence of tarry particles of soot gave the smog its greenish-yellow colour, hence the nickname "pea-souper". The absence of significant wind prevented its dispersal and allowed an unprecedented accumulation of pollutants. However, it was in London that the smog's effects were the greatest. ==Effects==

Effect on London There was initially no panic, as London was infamous for its fog. However, this one was denser and longer-lasting than any previous "pea-souper". Visibility was reduced to a few metres, with one visitor stating that it was "like you were blind", rendering driving difficult or at times impossible. Outdoor sports events were also cancelled. In the inner London suburbs and away from town centres, there was no disturbance by moving traffic to thin out dense fog in the back streets. As a result, visibility could be down to a metre or so in the daytime. Walking out of doors became a matter of shuffling to feel for potential obstacles such as kerbs. This was made even worse at night since each back street lamp was fitted with an incandescent light bulb, which gave no penetrating light onto the pavement for pedestrians to see their feet or even a lamp post. Fog-penetrating fluorescent lamps did not become widely available until later in the 1950s. "Smog masks" were worn by those who were able to purchase them from chemists. Health effects In the weeks that ensued, statistics compiled by medical services found that the fog had killed 4,000 people. Many of the victims were very young or elderly, or had pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular problems. In February 1953, Labour MP Marcus Lipton suggested in the House of Commons that the fog had caused 6,000 deaths and that 25,000 more people had claimed sickness benefits in London during that period. Mortality remained elevated for months after the fog. E. T. Wilkins, who, as Officer in Charge of Atmospheric Pollution at the government's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and effectively the UK's top pollution expert at the time, plotted a chart of elevated death rates for the period from December 1952 to March 1953 and found that there had been an additional 8,000 deaths beyond those initially counted, making 12,000 in total. Most of the deaths were caused by respiratory tract infections, from hypoxia and as a result of mechanical obstruction of the air passages by catarrh and pus arising from lung infections caused by the smog. The lung infections were mainly bronchopneumonia or acute purulent bronchitis superimposed upon chronic bronchitis. Research published in 2004 suggests that the number of fatalities was about 12,000, around three to four times greater than the official government total at the time, but very close to the figure Wilkins had originally estimated. File:1952 Great London Smog mortality.png|A 1953 report by the UK government's Committee on Air Pollution included this chart showing a "clear correlation between the pollution by smoke and sulphur dioxide, and the daily death rate in London" during the Great London Smog of December 1952. File:1952 Great London Smog mortality-2.png|A chart produced by E.T. Wilkins c.1953 showing an apparent excess of 12,000 deaths in London for the winter 1952–1953 (solid line) compared to the previous year (dotted line). The red shaded area shows the original estimate of 4,000 excess deaths. The blue shaded area shows the additional 8,000 excess deaths, which occurred in the months after the smog, and which were originally attributed to influenza. == In media ==

An episode of The Goon Show entitled "Forog", broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 21 December 1954, was a thinly veiled satire on the killer fog crisis. The script by Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan concerned the statues of London's monuments, who could get up and move about the city undisturbed only at times when it was enveloped in a characteristic smog. Government-sponsored scientific research sought to dispense with the choking fog, to the annoyance of the statues. It is the background for E. C. R. Lorac's 1954 mystery Shroud of Darkness. The D. E. Stevenson novel The Tall Stranger (1957) opens with a dense "fog" that penetrates indoors and endangers hospital patients, in an apparent reference to the 1952 smog event. The Great Smog is the central focus of season 1, episode 4 of Netflix's The Crown. The portrayal of the event was regarded as reasonably accurate by critics, although the political importance and the chaos in the hospitals were thought to have been greatly exaggerated. The Great Smog is the setting of the Doctor Who audio play The Creeping Death and the novel Amorality Tale. The Boris Starling novel Visibility is set in the 1952 smog event. In C. J. Sansom's 2012 alternate reality book Dominion a key plot point develops during the event. The video game Reverse: 1999 version 2.3 story "London Dawning" features a setting heavily inspired by the Great Smog, including characters who are inspired by it and having the smog as the main antagonist. == See also ==