Great Smog
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As a bitter cold snap gripped London late in 1952, its inhabitants used unusually large quantities of coal to heat their homes. Soot poured out of their chimneys, mixing with factory and power plant emissions to form an acrid-smelling fog that hovered over the city from December 5 to December 9. Trapped in by a high-pressure weather system, as well as the lack of wind, this toxic stew reduced visibility to near zero. Abandoned cars dotted the roads, movie theaters closed because no one could see the screen and some people even accidentally stumbled into the Thames River. Worst of all, about 4,000 Londoners died of respiratory ailments over those few days, and up to 8,000 more would succumb in the months that followed. Recent research shows that those in the womb at the time of the so-called Great Smog of 1952 grew up performing worse in school and were less likely to hold a job than their peers.
