1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: there's chucking. Jerry's hanging around filling him for Dave, whose 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: spirit permeates us all. The spirit of Dave be upon you, peace, 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: brothers and sisters and everybody. Uh, and that means this 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: is short stuff. Yes, Dave spirit who has settled upon us, 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: like the great stink of London. No, London did have 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: a great stink. We talked about it. We did a 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: great smog. That was a good episode two if I 9 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: remember correctly. Sure they got a stink in a smock 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: and they were both great. Poor London, I mean, come on, 11 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: there's a lot of terrible things happening in the air 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: over there, and technically it's their own fault, but still 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: you hate, you hate for that to happen to anybody, 14 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: that's right. Uh. This was a smog in ninety two, 15 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: specifically December five, when the day started alf okay, but then, 16 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: as it is London, Uh, not surprising if fog starts 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: to roll len as it often does. But then this 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: fog combined with the smoke of London at the time, 19 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: which we'll get into. Uh, smoke plus fog equals smog. 20 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: It's settled in and kind of parked it there for 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: quite a few days. And it was bad. It was 22 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: really bad. And it's really saying something that that it 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: was so bad that London even named it. Because London was, 24 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: like you said, very known for fog, it was also 25 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: really well known for small Apparently complaints about the small 26 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: problems um have been recorded as far back as the 27 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: thirteenth century in London, so they've had smog for a 28 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: long time. And apparently it was somebody from London who 29 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: coined the term smag to begin with. So they knew 30 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: their fog, they knew their smag, and this one combined 31 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: was so bad that they named it the Great Smag. 32 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: It was just that bad. And it's it's hard but 33 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: also easy and kind of fun to get across how 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: bad this small was because it did all sorts of 35 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: terrible stuff to the city and the people who lived there. Yeah, 36 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: I mean, you've got uh, you've got factories pumping out 37 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: smoke at the time, you've got people's own chimneys pumping 38 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: out smoke. This was December, so there were fires going 39 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: all over the place. You had cars. I think they 40 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 1: had gone from electric trams to diesel buses recently, so 41 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: there was a ton of smoke uh, combining with that 42 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: fog to make it a very caustic situation to the 43 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: point where you know, of course it's England, so they're 44 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: gonna be like, it's all fine, cheerio, and you'll go 45 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: about our day. Uh. And they did their best, but 46 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: even within that first day it started to literally shut 47 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: things down. It did. UM. It shut things down in 48 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: that like you you if you were driving at the time, 49 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: or you tried to get your car out, um, you 50 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: like you would just end up abandoning on the street. 51 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: It was too dangerous to continue on. UM. All of 52 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: the shipping uh. Transportation on the Thames stopped. UM. There 53 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: there was some bus service. I saw in a history 54 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: dot com article that some of the bobbies would would 55 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: walk slowly in front of the buses that we're trying 56 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: to operate with like a flashlight, um, just to serve 57 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: as like a beacon for them to follow through this 58 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: and even that proved to be too much. The only 59 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: way to get around was the underground, which was brilliantly 60 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: located underground and away from the small but even the 61 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: indoors wasn't safe right yeah, but first of all, you're 62 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: talking about cars. Are you saying that someone might leave 63 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: their flat and go down to their garage to get 64 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: in the car and it would be so bad they 65 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: might get scared and hide in their boot. Oh man, 66 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: that was beautiful. You just earned us a lot more 67 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: British listeners. I think a lot more pins. M I 68 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: think he just lost a few. Okay, Uh, yeah, things 69 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: were bad indoors. I think there were reports of um 70 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: movie theaters that couldn't show the movie because you couldn't 71 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: the screen. Uh. There were reports of people not being 72 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: able to see their feet, walking around, standing up, not 73 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: being able to look down. I wish I knew the 74 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: British word for feet, uh shods. They couldn't see their shods, 75 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: but it spelled Okay, that's great, but imagine that. Imagine 76 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: looking down and they're smag, not just fog, smog that 77 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: is making a choke and cough and weeze. It's so 78 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: thick that you cannot see your own feet. This is 79 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: part of the problem. I did not see this. I 80 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: couldn't find confirmation of this. Humi told me about this, 81 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: and she was reading me some stuff about it. One 82 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: of the things she found was that people would would 83 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: accidentally walk into the Thames and they couldn't get out 84 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: because they couldn't see the Thames from the smog, and 85 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: they were drowned. Like it was working as a research 86 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: a system pretty pretty much. Yeah, I got on the 87 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: tay roll. How do I get that? You already have 88 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: that buddy? Who's that? Oh? I thought you meant like, 89 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: how do you get that role? Oh? How do I 90 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: get it for myself? I don't know. Um, I don't know. 91 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: How about your daughter, she's getting to reading age. Yeah, 92 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: she's not into this trainer, young Chuck. I'm trying to 93 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: I get We get emails from people are like, oh, 94 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: my kid is six or seven and they listen to 95 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: the show. I'm like, really, all right, I think it's 96 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: just not it's not so much that she's not into 97 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 1: it's just that's where her dad does. And who finds 98 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: whatever their dad does interesting? Nobody. She flipped out when 99 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: we were on Jeopardy. Oh did she really what she 100 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: think about that? I mean, we watched Jeopardy, so she 101 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: just thought it was the coolest thing ever. Oh, that's 102 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: really cool. So it wasn't like a special like sit 103 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: here and be quiet and watched this TV show that 104 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: you've never heard of before. Thinks she watches Jeopardy does. 105 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: She watches it some with me, and she every time 106 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: I answer a question first, she's like, she thinks it's 107 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: some kind of weird black magic. So that's the thing 108 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: that I think that proves my point. She is into 109 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: it and smart and curious. It's just that she's not 110 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: into whatever her dad's job is. That's what I think 111 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: it is. Yeah, I mean she loves story pirates, that's 112 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: her jam Pete's right, Yeah, I was made by our friend, 113 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: in part by our friend Peter McNerney. And I keep 114 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 1: telling her Peter and Beth and their family came to 115 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: Georgia and we all went to the lake together a 116 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: few years ago. And I keep telling it was like, 117 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: you know, Peter, he went to the lake with us. 118 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: She's like really, And I'll show her pictures and she's like, 119 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: that's him. I don't remember that. Hey, that's the guy 120 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: from the valveoline commercial. That's the guy from the A 121 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: T and T commercial. He was in a super Bowl spot. 122 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: He's in tons of stuff, all right, So enough with 123 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: Peter McNerney. Let's take a break. And we'll talk more 124 00:06:50,600 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: about the smog right after this. Yeah, mm hmmm. So 125 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: it's really fun to talk about all the stuff that 126 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: just went awry during this this fog. Like you said, 127 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: people couldn't see movies anymore because there's so much smog 128 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: that came in unless it was awful true, Um, like 129 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: ambulance is not being able to run or people walking 130 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: into the Thames, right what about what about robberies and 131 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: perch snatchings increasing? Sure, you're gonna have an increase in 132 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,559 Speaker 1: crime when all those uh oh, there's a good word 133 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: British word for criminal. I can't think of it, but 134 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: I don't know they would they would definitely per snatch 135 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: with that heavy fog. Yeah, man, whatever they call either 136 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: cat burglar. Yeah, well, at any rate. Um. One of 137 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: the other things that happened to Chuck reportedly was that 138 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: an entire um heard of cattle in nearby Smithfield. I 139 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: believe Um died choke to death on it. And that 140 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: really reveals like just how how much this this how 141 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: bad this was And and I don't know if we've 142 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: said it or not yet, but this didn't go on 143 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: like just on December, Um, December five, this went on 144 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: for five days, and it kept getting worse. And the 145 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: whole reason it kept getting worse is because remember our 146 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 1: heat waves episode. Yes, so an anti cyclone uh a UM, 147 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: I believe a high pressure system settled over London. It 148 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: was thirty miles wide and settled over London, and it 149 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: basically kept any breeze and air at bay. So all 150 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: of those smoke sacks and emissions and all that stuff 151 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: just kept building and building and building, and they were 152 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: trapped at roughly surface level. Uh. And over five days 153 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: they just kept going because this this low or this 154 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: high pressure system would not move, and finally went out 155 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: to see on December ninth. That's right. Uh. And in 156 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: the meantime, it exacted a very large health toll. Uh. 157 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: There have been differing numbers on people that they can 158 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: directly attribute to dying as a result of the Great Smog. 159 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: I think back then they said it was about four 160 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: thousand people. Uh. These days people say it might be 161 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,679 Speaker 1: more like twelve thousand people. Yeah. Uh, that is an 162 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: astounding number of people to um. And you know, granted 163 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: some of these people were probably had you know, breathing 164 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: issues or asthmatic or co op D, but it would 165 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,439 Speaker 1: push them to death. I don't know about like completely 166 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: healthy people that died within those five days, but twelve 167 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: thousand people is a lot of people. No matari usslice 168 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: it Yeah, over five dayste that wouldn't I mean, the 169 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: point is these people wouldn't have otherwise died. That's those 170 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: like directly attributable to this. And it was so bad 171 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: that the British government basically was forced to act. Um 172 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 1: they came up four years later with the Clean Air Act. 173 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:02,079 Speaker 1: And this is the fifties and they're coming up with 174 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 1: a Clean Air Act. Like when you think about environmental 175 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: policy and in movements and stuff, you typically think of 176 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies like the beginning of that. That's how bad 177 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: this small was. That they came out with a Clean 178 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: Air Act in nineteen fifties six directly because of that 179 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: small event. Yeah, I mean l A. I remember when 180 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: I was living there, people would say, Man, can you 181 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: imagine living here in the nineteen fifties, and like when 182 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: it was just so clean and beautiful, and the nineteen 183 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: fifties and l A were awful, terrible, terrible smag back then. 184 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: And the smog I think got worse in l A 185 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: through the seventies and then things started getting better. But 186 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: it's way better now than it ever used to be, 187 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: as well as in London, thanks to stuff like the 188 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: Clean Air Act. And then I think later on, uh, 189 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: there was another small crisis in sixty two where they 190 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: I think they added some more teeth to the Clean 191 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: Air Act. But you know, basically they offered a lot 192 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: of incentives, they offered a lot of restrictions on industry 193 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: and you know people, but they also said, hey, why 194 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: don't we try things like electricity or natural gas or oil, 195 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: and we set of burning this coal all over the 196 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: place and it worked. I don't believe there's been a 197 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: great smog since nineteen sixty two. So way to go, London, 198 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: way to pull it out, Go London. Ah, you got 199 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: anything else, I've got nothing else except to say that 200 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: we want to one day come back to London and 201 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: do more live shows. Yeah, totally agreed. And um. In 202 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: the meantime, thank you for listening London, Thank you for 203 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: listening to the rest of the world, and thank you 204 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: most of all, Chuck. I think we can say to 205 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: you me for coming up with this one too. Oh 206 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: it was her idea. Yes, she's the one who told 207 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: me about we gotta get her on the on the payroll. 208 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: I got her covering. Okay, okay, Uh, everybody's short stuff 209 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: is that stuff you should know is a production of 210 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 211 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 212 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.