Pollutionwatch: remembering world's deadly smogs

Early winter was the time for smog in the UK. Most of the deadly smogs in London and Glasgow happened during November and December, but these were not unique to the UK. In Liège in Belgium’s Meuse valley, you can find a small statue dedicated to those who died in a winter smog in 1930. Smoke was trapped in the valley for five days. Hundreds of people experienced breathing problems and about 60 died suffering from painful chests, coughing and breathlessness and, in some cases, foaming at the mouth and vomiting before heart failure.

In Donora, Pennsylvania, you can visit a museum dedicated to the 1948 smog that engulfed the steel town. It began on a Tuesday night and by Friday people were crowding into medical centres and hospitals, and firefighters were using breathing apparatus to treat people with oxygen. Sixteen people died and more than 600 were left ill in a town of 14,000.

The world’s worst smog is almost certainly the five days in London in December 1952, when an estimated 12,000 people died but, despite death rates that exceeded the worst Victorian cholera epidemics and the deadliest nights of the blitz, you will not find a memorial to the worst single disaster to strike the UK capital.