History Main / AFoggyDayInLondonTown

See also UsefulNotes/BritishWeather.

-->--FlavorText, ''VideoGame/FallenLondon''

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

** Taken to a ridiculous degree in ''Pokemon Journeys''. You know an episode is set in Galar all because the weather is foggy. ''Everywhere.''

* ''Series/GetSmart'': London is depicted with fog so thick in the "That Old Gang of Mine" episode that Max and 99 can barely see where they are going, so they ask directions of several people who come walking along. The punchline comes when Max reveals they've been standing in their hotel room the whole time.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': One Alola episode features a detective ShowWithinAShow seemingly set in the Galar region, complete with smog.

It was TruthInTelevision for many decades, especially in London, situated as it is in a river valley near where it turns into an estuary. That plus the typical wet UsefulNotes/BritishWeather makes for ideal fog conditions. But the traditional impenetrable London fog is not just fog, but actually smog -- fog combined with smoke, which was especially common in London around that time from all of the coal fires. Unlike traditional fog, which can shift in and out quickly and isn't ''too'' bad for visibility (as [[Creator/EddieIzzard an Englishman]] in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco once commented), old London smog smelled awful and had a [[SicklyGreenGlow nasty green tinge]], hence the common nickname [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup_fog "pea soup" fog]]. And it was a lot thicker than regular fog, too; you were lucky if you could see 10 feet in front of you.

From the second half of the 19th century until well around the 1950s, England and especially UsefulNotes/{{London}} were associated with foggy, damp environments where nobody could see anything in the mist other than shadowy figures. This OminousFog and MysteriousMist made it an ideal setting for detectives to solving murder mysteries in near darkness.

* In ''Film/TheGhoul'', Laing travels to London and attacks on the street on a foggy night so he can steal her bag and plant a note in it.

* In one series of episodes of ''Series/{{Batman}}'' ("The Londinium Larcenies"/"The Foggiest Notion"/"The Bloody Tower"), Batman and Robin travel to Londinium (the Bat-universe's analog to London; actually the Roman name for London) to battle Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup. Not only is Londinium depicted as very foggy much of the time, but Ffogg's weapons are also all fog-based.

From the second half of the 19th century until well around the 1950s England and especially UsefulNotes/{{London}} were associated with foggy, damp environments where nobody could see anything in the mist, except shadowy figures. This OminousFog and MysteriousMist made it ideal for setting in which detectives are solving murder mysteries in near darkness.

TruthInTelevision for many decades. London fog was often so thick it was nicknamed ''pea soup'', because of the greenish tinge. If you could see 10 feet in front of you in those days you were lucky; there are even reports of people falling into the Thames as a result, and sometimes the air and smell was so bad that people wore mouth masks. As you might expect, this wasn't really true "fog" (which, as [[Creator/EddieIzzard an Englishman in San Francisco]] once commented, while it can ''move'' quickly, but is rarely actually ''that'' bad for visibility or smell), but rather a product of both fog and air pollution--that is to say, smog (="smoke"+"fog").

London, lying as it does in a river valley by a big river and very close to where it turns into an estuary, is rather humid and susceptible to actual fog, but the real concern comes when the smoke from all the coal fires in London up until the middle of the 20th century mixes with the fog, you get a new substance that you can't see through and smells vile. Domestic coal fires were the major contributory factor; Londoners had burned coal to heat their homes and businesses since at least the 17th century (there are plenty of reports from that time of how horrid the London air is from all the smoke), but the problem got especially bad after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when all the good quality coal was being sold for export to try and pay off the war debt, leaving Britons to burn the low quality, sulphurous coal sold cheaply onto the domestic market. Another reason for the fog's existence were the factory smokes, which provided an awful smell too.

The toxicity of this fog only came to light in 1952, when 4,000 people inhaled the fumes, got sick afterwards and died as a result. From that moment on the British government ordered restrictions to be made in the ''Clean Air Act 1956'', so that the amount of factory fog would be drastically reduced. (See also here for more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea_soup_fog ) It took some time for this to fully take hold; another "Great Smog" came along in 1957 (nowhere near as bad as 1952, but still horrible).

Since then the infamous thick and toxic ''London fog'' has disappeared in RealLife (although London's air quality is still rather poor even in the present day) and both in popular culture too, making this a DeadHorseTrope. Still, in older stories, comics, films and novels it can occasionally turn up, as well in tales set in VictorianLondon, ''especially'' Literature/SherlockHolmes and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and JackTheRipOff variants, or even during TheEdwardianEra, where the fog is pretty much an aesthetic necessity.

* Despite its association with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' it is only mentioned in a handful of novels. It nearly ruins Holmes' gambit in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' (despite being set nowhere near London) and [[spoiler:leads to Stapleton drowning in the moor]].

* In ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'', the weather changes every now and then, but it is very often foggy. Which is impressive, because in this universe, London is underneath the earth. On the rare occasions that the fog lifts, "[[FlavorText For a moment it seems like London never fell.]]"

Since then the infamous thick and toxic ''London fog'' has disappeared in RealLife (although London's air quality is still rather poor even in 2018) and both in popular culture too, making this a DeadHorseTrope. Still, in older stories, comics, films and novels it can occasionally turn up, as well in tales set in VictorianLondon, ''especially'' Literature/SherlockHolmes and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and JackTheRipOff variants, or even during TheEdwardianEra, where the fog is pretty much an aesthetic necessity.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': One Alola episode features a detective ShowWithinAShow seemingly set in London, complete with smog.

Since then the infamous thick and toxic ''London fog'' has disappeared in RealLife (although London's air quality is still rather poor even in 2018) and both in popular culture too, making this a DeadHorseTrope. Still, in older stories, comics, films and novels it can occasionally turn up, as well in tales set in VictorianLondon, especially ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' and UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and JackTheRipOff variants, or even during TheEdwardianEra, where the fog is pretty much an aesthetic necessity.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Spoofed in a CreditsGag at the end of ''Film/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs''. A WorldHealingWave is shown undoing the damage caused by the [=FLDSMDFR=] and returning various ruined cities back to their original state. Finally, we see London looking dreary, gray and permeated with fog. The magic wave then passes through, leaving the city still looking dreary, gray and permeated with fog.

* "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" is a 1937 composition by Music/GeorgeGershwin, introduced by Fred Astaire in the film ''Film/ADamselInDistress'' and the TropeNamer. Music/FrankSinatra covered it on his album ''Music/SongsForYoungLovers''. Music/SarahVaughan on her album ''Music/LiveInJapan''.

* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': A foggy London atmosphere is created in the background when Batman battles ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' and when UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper battles [[Literature/SilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In ''Treehouse Of Horror XV'' the third segment is a parody of the UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper time period, with Bart and Lisa acting as a Literature/SherlockHolmes and Watson ripoff investigating crimes in VictorianLondon where the fog is looming everywhere.

* Despite its association with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' it is only mentioned in a handful of novels. It nearly ruins Holmes' gambit in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' and [[spoiler:leads to Stapleton drowning in the moor]].

* ''Anime/TransformersMasterforce'' has a commercial airline flight coming in to land at a London airport, with the pilots commenting about how thick the fog gets.

* Despite its association with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' it is only mentioned in a handful of novels.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndScrappyDoo'' named "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" had the gang go to a robotic amusement park designed after Victorian London. As a result this trope is there in all it's characters-disappearing foggy glory.