In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd recaps the talk by Professor Colin Kelcey about a traumatic but pivotal event in London’s history.
This was a talk by Colin Kelcey about five particular days in December 1952 when London was enveloped in smog and the city was at a standstill.
This was not the first episode of pollution where impacts on health were noted. In December 1930 in the Meuse Valley in Belgium there was an incident of fog which killed 63 people. Previously in 1911 in the same area a lot of cattle were killed and farmers found that they could only save them by moving them to higher ground – this had been realised from earlier smog events. Cows were like the canary in the mine, unusually sensitive to air pollution. Subsequently at a meeting there were ominous warnings about what could happen, it was said that if there was a similar event in London it could result in 3,200 deaths.
Continue reading “Event Report: Five Days in December – September 17th, 2024”