logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2020
24m 23s

The Great Stink

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
About this episode

June 30th, 1858. London is a world city, a global center of trade and commerce. But there’s something less glamorous going on in this bustling metropolis: the smell. Every inch of the city smells like rotting, human waste. And this smell is actually killing people. But no one is doing anything about it – until today. How did short-term thinking lead to a deadly problem? And how did an unlikely leader finally get London out of this very literal mess? 


Thank you to our guest, Professor Rosemary Ashton, author of One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858.


To our listeners, thank you for subscribing to History This Week. We want to hear your feedback: https://bit.ly/3a4FGqJ


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Today
Operation Mincemeat Revisited | Episode + Bonus Interview with Natasha Hodgson
When we first aired "Operation Mincemeat" back in 2020, it was a daring WWII thriller that felt almost too wild to be true. Now, it’s not just history — it’s a hit Broadway musical. This week, we're revisiting our original episode about the ingenious Allied ruse that helped turn ... Show More
54m 46s
Jul 7
Superman Takes Flight
July 7, 1938. Superman has the villain in his grasp. They soar through the air, then slam into the ground. This villain wants to start a war. Our hero won’t let that happen. At this point, Superman only has two comic book appearances. And yet, his legend is already beginning to g ... Show More
39m 14s
Jun 30
The Colosseum Becomes a Wonder | A Conversation with Barry Strauss & Alison Futrell
July 7, 2007. In a dramatic ceremony featuring pop stars, fireworks, and smoke cannons, the Colosseum is named one of the seven new wonders of the world. It’s an appropriately over-the-top blowout for an arena which, centuries before, was home to its own lavish events. How did sp ... Show More
37m 23s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2023
The Great Stink
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the stench from the River Thames in the hot summer of 1858 and how it appalled and terrified Londoners living and working beside it, including those in the new Houses of Parliament which were still under construction. There had been an outbreak of ... Show More
50m 12s
Jan 2023
The Great Stink
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the stench from the River Thames in the hot summer of 1858 and how it appalled and terrified Londoners living and working beside it, including those in the new Houses of Parliament which were still under construction. There had been an outbreak of ... Show More
50m 12s
Mar 2019
The Great Stink: The Stench So Bad They Gave It A Name
In the summer of 1858, a heatwave dried up the Thames River to a trickle in London. As centuries’ worth of human waste, animal carcasses and other nasty things cooked in the sun, a stench arose that was so horrific it got its own name: The Great Stink. Learn more about your ad-ch ... Show More
35m 4s
Jun 2024
CLASSIC: What was the 'Great Stink' of London?
Every city has its drawbacks -- parking, for example, or crime, or the price of a decent pizza slice -- but in the 1800s London faced a particularly unusual and disgusting problem: the city literally stank. And this wasn't an occasional whiff of urine or hot garbage from an alley ... Show More
40m 43s
Dec 2023
S4/E5- The Great Stink: A Smelly Chapter in London's History
📝 Get FREE Episode Worksheet 🧐 Take English Level Test 👄 Improve Your Pronunciation In this episode, Charlie invites Martin on the show to talk about the "Great Stink" in London in 1858, focusing on the city's bad sanitation and how Sir Joseph Bazalgette's new sewage system he ... Show More
28m 47s
Jan 2024
Can You Smell Eggs?
In New York City on 8th January, 2007, an unexplained pervasive egg smell was reported. Baffled authorities scrambled to try to work out whether it had been caused by a gas leak, a chemical spill, a terrorist attack or something else entirely. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and ... Show More
12m 2s
Jun 2023
Great Fire of London
Why do we call the Great Fire of London in 1666 “great”? Was it because of the significant challenge it posed to authorities and residents as they sought to bring it under control? Was it because of the extent of its devastation? Or was it because it occurred during an eventful c ... Show More
42m 5s
Sep 2020
Ann-Sophie Barwich, "Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind" (Harvard UP, 2020)
Smells repel and attract; they bring emotionally charged memories to mind; they guide behavior and thought nonconsciously; they give food much of its taste; and the loss of sense of smell can help diagnose disease. But what features of the world do smells pick out? What is the ol ... Show More
1h 9m
Oct 2022
The suspicious smell
Why are some smells so nasty and others so pleasant? Rutherford and Fry inhale the science of scent in this stinker of an episode.Our sleuths kick off with a guided tour of the airborne molecules and chemical receptors that power the sense of smell. Armed with a stack of pungent ... Show More
28m 17s
Aug 2017
Making Scents: The story of perfume
Throughout history, fragrance has been used to scent both the body and our surroundings. With just one drop, perfume has the potential to stir memories, awaken the senses and even influence how we feel about ourselves. But what’s the story behind this liquid luxury in a bottle, n ... Show More
39m 52s