During the summer of 1858, a drought coupled with a heatwave, the lack of a proper sewer system, industrial waste, a booming population, and an increase in the usage of new flush toilets all came together to form a perfect storm of putrid petulance in London that was so bad historians gave it its own name: The Great Stink.
The Great Stink was so foul it would send Londoners into fits of vomiting if they went anywhere near the Thames. The river’s unsanitary conditions made for a city ripe with illness. In an age where water transmitted diseases were not well understood, the people of London believed 'miasma' or the foul air itself was to blame. As physician John Snow went to work attempting to convince the world that cholera was spread through contaminated water, Joseph Bazalgette was drawing up plans for the largest infrastructure overhaul Victorian London had ever seen.
Come with me and uncover the history of a smell so foul that historians are still talking about it today, and hear about the mad dash to save the Thames which, according to Charles Dickens himself had become, "a deadly sewer.”
Sowing History: The Judean Date Palm’s 2,000 Year Old Comeback
From the Cache: Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer and the Coelacanth
From the Cache: History’s Happy Little Accidents
Unsinkable Sam
The Second Life of Betty Robinson
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 2: Their Legacy Remains
The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Part 1: No Way Home
Ken Allen: The Hairy Houdini
Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 2
Édith Piaf: The Little Sparrow, Part 1
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race: The Finale
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 3
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 2
The Great 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race Part 1
When Harry Met Winnie: The True Story of Winnie the Pooh
Stingy Jack and the Origin of Jack-o’-Lanterns
From the Cache: A Strange Experiment on Mackinac Island
From the Cache: The Edmund Fitzgerald
Ornamental Garden Hermits: History’s Weirdest Job
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily