Great Smog of London

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A London police officer wearing a protective mask stands in a street shrouded in thick smog, with vehicles and figures barely visible in the background, during the Great Smog of 1952.

Thick smog shrouds Piccadilly Circus, London, as pedestrians walk past the Eros fountain and a car drives through low visibility.

Tugboat moored on the River Thames beneath Tower Bridge, barely visible through London's thick 1952 smog.

Great Smog of London: Media

environmental disaster, England, United Kingdom [1952]

Images

A London police officer wearing a protective mask stands in a street shrouded in thick smog, with vehicles and figures barely visible in the background, during the Great Smog of 1952.

Great Smog of London

A police officer wearing a mask during the Great Smog of London, December 1952.

© Keystone—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Thick smog shrouds Piccadilly Circus, London, as pedestrians walk past the Eros fountain and a car drives through low visibility.

Piccadilly Circus, London, during the Great Smog of London in December 1952.

Visibility was so impaired by the smog in some parts of London that pedestrians were...

© Central Press—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Tugboat moored on the River Thames beneath Tower Bridge, barely visible through London's thick 1952 smog.

The thick smog over the River Thames in early December 1952.

The disaster was caused by a combination of industrial pollution and high-pressure...

© Fox Photos—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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