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12
MORTALITY FROM FOG IN LONDON JANUARY 1956
I quote from W. P. D. Logan, M.D, Ph. D., D.P.H., Chief Medical Statistician,
General Register Office who says writing in the British Medical Journal of March 31st
1956.page 722
"There was some fog in the London area on January 3rd 1956, This became thick on the
morning of January 5th and persisted until the morning of January 6th when it began to
disperse Fog was widespread throughout much of the rest of the country at the same
time, and in some places continued longer In London the fog was thick enough to cause
very severe disruption of traffic, particularly on the evening of January 5th Newspapers
carried headlines about killer smog', described the widespread investigations
that were being conducted during the fog into the degree of atmospheric pollution that
was taking place, and reminded readers that the previous severe London fog, in December,
1952, had caused several thousand deaths in the London area
Following the fog of December 1952, a period of some weeks had to elapse before the
mortality returns could be analysed and the total number of deaths due to the fog could
be estimated-about 4,000 deaths in the Greater London area (Logan 1953 Ministry of
Health 1954).After a similar delay it is now possible to give a corresponding estimate
for the January fog of this year - about 1,000 deaths in the Greater London Area".
The number of deaths occurring each day from December 25th 1955, to January 19th
1956, in the London Administrative County are shown in Table I.
Table II shows the death rate during the same period in Fulham