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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: When London Stank
Description: The ‘Great Stink’ - when the stench of untreated human and industrial waste was amplified by a particularly hot Summer - reached a peak on 15th July, 1858, when members of Parliament lead by Benjamin Disraeli rushed through an emergency cleanup bill, kickstarting a transformative revamp of London’s sewage system.Prior to this, waste from factories, slaughterhouses, and households accumulated on the capital’s riverbanks, creating a thick, malodorous crust. Most Londoners believed that bad air caused illness, rather than the poisoned water itself - a misunderstanding which initially led people to simply cover their noses to avoid th...