Line #50 Main/AFoggyDayInLondonTown


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11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hith-london-smog-police_1119.jpg]]
12
13	->''"London is a city of a hundred thousand smokes. Tonight, those smokes tangle like tarry ropes around your neck, your feet, in malevolent yellow-green coils."''
14	-->-- FlavorText, ''VideoGame/FallenLondon''
15
16	From the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain second half of the 19th century]] until well around The50s, UsefulNotes/{{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 solving murder mysteries in near darkness or horror stories.
17
18	That fog 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 since the dawn of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution Industrial Revolution]]. Unlike ordinary fog, which can shift in and out quickly and isn't ''too'' bad for visibility[[note]]By the technical definition, fog can allow visibility up to
19	1 km.[[/note]] (as [[Creator/SuzyEddieIzzard an Englishwoman]] 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.
20
21	The smog was a staple of VictorianLondon, when the city industrialized and both homes and businesses started burning coal for heat, but it got dramatically worse after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when Britain began exporting its high-quality coal in far greater quantities to pay for its war debt, leaving the locals with poor quality sulphurous coal that made the problem worse. It culminated in the 1952 "Great Smog" of London, a smog so bad that 4,000 people died as a result, some because of accidents thanks to near-zero visibility, but many just from inhaling the toxic air and getting sick. Only then did the British government act to actually reduce the pollutants, starting with the Clean Air Act 1956. The last bad "pea soup" fog came in 1957, making this a DeadHorseTrope.
22
23	Because modern London doesn't see this level of smog anymore, the trope is usually used to set the stage of VictorianLondon or TheEdwardianEra, especially stories about crime (no UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper story is complete without a foggy crime scene [[note]] although [[https://www.casebook.org/victorian_london/weather.html the evidence]] shows that there was no fog on the days (or rather, nights) of any of the murders [[/note]]). You can also expect works that date from around that time to describe a foggy London as well, such as the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories.
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25	The rough American equivalent would be UsefulNotes/LosAngeles' smog, though that is typically orange rather than green, and it's usually used to convey a hot and dry setting instead of a chilly and damp one. For that one, see HellishLA
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Advertising]]
32	* A brand of high end trench- and raincoats is named ''London Fog''.
33	* A brand of British brown ale is also named ''London Fog''. [[https://www.shortsbrewing.com/beers/london-fog/]]
34	* The London Fog was a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood back in The60s, famous as a regular venue for Music/TheDoors & other PsychedelicRock bands.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
38	* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' has an episode set in London, which just happens to fog up during former three-time Gundam Fight champion Gentle Chapman's fights. [[spoiler: The fog is actually manufactured to conceal the fact that his wife is sending out dummy mobile suits to help him win, in violation of Article 5 of the Gundam Fight International Regulations that stipulates all Gundam Fight matches to be one-on-one]].
39	* Miyuki from ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' ''thinks'' that London is like this in her {{imagine spot}}s.
40	* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
41	** One Alola episode features a detective ShowWithinAShow seemingly set in the Galar region, complete with smog.
42	** Taken to a ridiculous degree in ''Pokémon Journeys''. You know an episode is set in Galar all because the weather is foggy. ''Everywhere.''
43	* ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'' depicts London as a wooded forestland where the locals ride around on ''horseback''. Just to make this even worse, the series is meant to take place in ''2011''.
44	* ''Anime/TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'' has a commercial airline flight coming in to land at a London airport, with the pilots commenting about how thick the fog gets.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Comic Books]]
48	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': In ''Recap/AsterixInBritain'', Asterix travels to Great Britain, where they are suddenly (as in, in between saying "the fog falls" and "fast") caught up in a natural fog (since the story takes places in 50 BC, centuries before industrial times) and can't see anybody or anything. Anticlimax says it is a natural phenomenon in his country, and that there's this "only when it doesn't rain".
49	* ''{{ComicBook/Blacksad}}'': Blacksad is attacked by a knife-wielding man on a foggy evening, and dryly notes he had the Jack the Ripper impersonation down pat, down to the disappearing in the fog.
50	* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': Prevalent in ''Recap/TheYellowM'', where Blake and Mortimer walk in the London streets at night and are trying to catch a mysterious criminal.
51	* ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'': In ''Het Vredesoffensief van Nero'' (1951) (''The Peace Initiative of Nero'') Nero, Petoetje and Madam Pheip walk around in London where the fog makes it impossible to see where they are going or to whom they are talking.
52	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Knight and Fogg were two British super-powered contract killers who appeared in ''ComicBook/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' #165-167 back in 1990. The latter saw himself as the personification of the London fog and [[SuperSmoke could transform his body into a gaseous form]] that obscured his opponents' sight; his favorite method of attack was to strangle his targets from afar with his partially solidified hands.
53	* ''ComicBook/ZombiesChristmasCarol'': Fog is present throughout London, representing both the plague and encroaching death.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
57	* Played for laughs in ''ComicStrip/NickKnatterton'''s London adventure "Ein Kopf fällt in die Themse" ("A head falls into the Thames"), where Nick's investigations are intermittently hampered by the fog. In one scene, he visits a suspect at her home, and when the conversation is finished he leaves. Opening the front door he asks in puzzlement: "Why is there a curtain in front of the door?" -- "That's not a curtain, that's the fog."
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
61	* ''WesternAnimation/AsterixInBritain'' (the AnimatedAdaptation of the comic book) has Asterix ask Anticlimax if it is always foggy in Britain, to which he responds "Oh my goodness no, owe only have fog when it isn't raining". Cue the rain.
62	* Spoofed in a CreditsGag at the end of ''WesternAnimation/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.
63	* Generally, animated films from Creator/{{Disney}} taking place in London avert this, but ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' plays this straight, what with taking place in the Victorian era and featuring rodent versions of Literature/SherlockHolmes-esque detectives.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
67	* Creator/LonChaney vehicle ''Film/TheBlackbird'' has perpetually fog-bound streets, which help set the atmosphere for London's notoriously sleazy RedLightDistrict of Limehouse.
68	* In ''Film/TheCannonballRun'', Seymour Goldfarb (Roger Moore) says this when his car starts filling up with smoke after using the smoke screen and oil slick to get the pursuing police cars off his tail.
69	* ''[[Radio/TheGoonShow The Case Of The Mukkinese Battle Horn]]'' opens with the screen filled with impenetrable London fog. But the narrator cheerfully points out that even in the thickest of fogs, there are some landmarks [[YouCantMissIt you just can't miss]]. Like Nelson's column, for example. ''sound of car crashing'' "You see? There's someone not missing it now!"
70	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/DraculaDeadAndLovingIt''; the EstablishingShot of London is simply a impenetrable cloud of white fog, and the plaque of the opera house where the next scene takes place only becomes visible when the camera is two feet from it.
71	* ''Film/EscapeMeNever'': All the scenes set in London are shown to be foggy and damp. This is plot-relevant as, when her little son Piccolo gets sick, Gemma blames it on the crappy London weather.
72	* ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' uses this as OminousFog to establish mood, like when Paula is being led away from the house after her aunt has been murdered, or later, when her evil husband Gregory is skulking through the streets and alleyways.
73	* In ''Film/TheGhoul'', Laing travels to London and attacks Betty on the street on a foggy night so he can steal her bag and plant a note in it.
74	* Most of the night scenes in ''Film/JackTheRipper1976'' are accompanied by a thick fog. One especially memorable scene has the Ripper pursuing his victim through a fogbound park.
75	* ''Film/TheLodger'', Creator/AlfredHitchcock's first film, is subtitled ''A Story of the London Fog''. A SerialKiller is stalking the foggy streets of London, and the new lodger at Mrs. Bounting's rooming house might be him.
76	* Mentioned in ''Film/LoveAtFirstBite'', when Dracula reminisces about how he'd lost Mina Harker in the fog, thus explaining why he didn't wind up with her after his run-in with Van Helsing.
77	* ''Film/PandorasBox'' ends with Lulu meeting UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper on the OminousFog-bound streets of London.
78	* Most movie adaptations of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' have used foggy London as their setting.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Literature]]
82	* When Nellie Bly arrived in London on the round-the-world trip that she wrote about in ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInSeventyTwoDays'', "a gray, misty fog hung like a ghostly pall over the city."
83	* ''Literature/BleakHouse''. When Esther arrives in London she ask a passer by what this dense brown smoke might be and thinks it is a great fire.
84	-->'''O, dear no, miss,' he said. 'This is a London particular.' I had never heard of such a thing. 'A fog, miss,' said the young gentleman.''
85	* It is mentioned all throughout ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''.
86	** Near the start of the story, for instance:
87	--->''Once upon a time--of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve--old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already--it had not been light all day--and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.''
88	** Later when Scrooge returns to his home at night, where he will be visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley:
89	--->''The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house, that it seemed as if the Genius of the Weather sat in mournful meditation on the threshold.''
90	** And near the end, during the famous moment when Scrooge awakens and feels like a new man and opens the window:
91	--->''Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious!''
92	* The Great Stink in ''Literature/TheDifferenceEngine'' due to the profusion of SteamPunk industry. Thanks to the politics of the time it gets blamed on Luddite sabotage instead.
93	* Ankh-Morpork, ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s FantasyCounterpartCulture to London, is known for its "gumbo fog", which is like a pea-souper only thicker, fishier, and with things in it that you'd probably rather not know about.
94	* Lampshaded by one of the detectives in ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'' by Creator/DavidSimon, when they're sent to investigate a murder during a foggy Baltimore morning, "just like Sherlock Holmes".
95	* ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'': "..the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted"
96	* In ''MrWarrensProfession'', Aubrey Warren almost crashes headfirst into an oncoming omnibus due to a combination of high emotion and thick fog.
97	* Despite its association with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' the ''London'' fog is only mentioned in a handful of novels, but OminousFog of the rest-of-Britain variety nearly ruins Holmes' gambit in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' and [[spoiler:leads to Stapleton drowning in the moor]], and is discussed shortly beforehand.
98	--> '''Holmes:''' [...] and then, Lestrade, we will take the London fog out of your throat by giving you breath of the pure night air of Dartmoor. Never been there? Ah, well, [[TemptingFate I don't suppose you will forget your first visit.]]
99	* In ''Literature/SorcererConjurerWizardWitch'', Edwin visits Shadow London, an otherworld where all the legendary places and characters of London's history live on. It is, naturally, shrouded in fog. Edwin notes the difference between the fog of Shadow London, "thick mist, odourless but damp, arranged in artful drapes", and the real London's fog, which is "yellow-green and foul".
100	* ''Literature/TerrorIsMyTrade'': In this 1958 crime novel, protagonist Chester Trask gets out of a car in London and complains of the fog, "some fog" which he can feel stinging his eyes and taste in the back of his throat. This also serves as OminousFog as Trask is headed to a confrontation with gangsters that turns violent.
101	* In ''Literature/TureSventonILondon'' the London fog is so thick that the detective Ture Sventon have to attach a thread with a safety pin to one of the crooks to tail him.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
105	* In the ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' episode "The Bliss Girl," the fog has entered the building, and into the elevator.
106	* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In the episode "Haunted", Oliver Queen rings up [[Series/Constantine2014 John Constantine]] for help, and establishing his Englishness somehow requires Constantine to be standing on a foggy street with antique-looking street lamps. Perhaps he started [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow time travelling earlier than we thought?]]
107	* In one series of episodes of ''Series/{{Batman\|1966}}'' ("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.
108	* The smog is a plot point in a few episodes of ''Series/CallTheMidwife'', particularly the pilot; set during the smog of 1957 (one of the last, and the worst one since the 1952 Great Smog), Nurse Jenny Lee's first patient trips over one of her children's toy fire engines while trying to hang the washing in the garden amidst the pea soup. A concussion and premature delivery result.
109	* ''Series/TheCrown2016'': The Series 1 episode "Act of God" depicts the Great Smog of 1952, which happened only a few months into Elizabeth's reign. UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill (Prime Minister at the time) initially dismissed it as "just fog" and presented a very limited policy response, to the consternation of the Palace and most everyone else. Churchill was later moved by the sight of one of the Downing Street secretarial pool [[spoiler:killed by a lorry that couldn't see her in the pea soup]].
110	* ''Series/GetSmart'':
111	** 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.
112	** Again in "House of Max, Part I". Max and 99 are sent to London to investigate a series of murders by UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper [[spoiler:actually a wax dummy brought to life]]. At a foggy late night rendezvous, a Scotland Yard inspector tells Max, "The Ripper usually strikes when the city's heavy with fog. Therefore I don't think he'll strike tonight."
113	* In the short-lived UK crime series ''Series/Jericho2005'', set in London during The50s, a PSA at the cinema is warning the public to "breathe through your nose" because of the smog. Later while searching for the murderer of that particular episode, Jericho's car has to be navigated through the smog by a detective standing on the fender, wearing a gas mask and waving a torch.
114	* At the climax of the final season of ''Series/PennyDreadful'', London is blanketed with a toxic fog that reportedly kills thousands of people (although the vampires might have had something to do with it as well) as the first stage in a fortunately averted Apocalypse.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Music]]
118	* "A Foggy Day (in London Town)" is a 1937 composition by Music/GeorgeGershwin, introduced by Fred Astaire in the film ''Film/ADamselInDistress'' and the {{Trope Namer\|s}}. Music/FrankSinatra covered it on his album ''Music/SongsForYoungLovers'', and Music/SarahVaughan on her album ''Music/LiveInJapan''.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Print Media]]
122	* A newspaper article reporting on a plan to install solar panels in London had to spend a few paragraphs debunking this trope, due to the obvious jokes.
123	* On a particularly foggy day, a British newspaper reportedly ran this headline: "FOG IN CHANNEL - CONTINENT CUT OFF".
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
127	* In one ''Series/SesameStreet'' News Flash, Kermit has gone to London to report on the London Fog. He is interrupted by the London Frog, a [[BritishRoyalGuards Guardsman]] carrying the London Log, and the London Hog. Meanwhile, much to Kermit's dismay, the fog dissipates, so the others teach him to dance the London Clog.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Tabletop Game]]
131	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': London sprawl is commonly referred to as "The Smoke". Thanks to the relaxed environmental standards and the massive factory smoke provided by both London and Birmingham, the fog is back with a vengeance.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Video Games]]
135	* 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 [[UndergroundCity underneath the earth]]. On the rare occasions that the fog lifts, "[[FlavorText For a moment it seems like London never fell.]]"
136	** ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'': London is described as foggy a lot in the lore-text, with many of your encounters in the town ending with the other party disappearing into the fog. Gameplay-wise, though, London is one of the least foggy areas in the game.
137	** ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies'': Albion ({{steampunk}} future [[SpaceX space-London]]) is drenched in smoke, with most of the backgrounds you fly over being extremely smoky and foggy thanks to the pollution from the workworlds.
138	* The trope is namechecked by the [[http://members.aon.at/~ehesch1/fl/fl.htm "Foggy London"]] utility, which displays the internal state of the Platform/ZXSpectrum game ''Sherlock'' while a game is played.
139	* Bonneton in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' is heavily based on England and has very thick smog all over the place. The local Bonneters even speak in a diction faintly evocative of stereotypical British English.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Web Original]]
143	* In ''AudioPlay/ThePrincessThieves'', After robbing the Marquis of Cheswick, Robin and Oberon loose the watchmen by disappearing into the thick, London fog.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Web Videos]]
147	* ''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]].
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Western Animation]]
151	* ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'': When Duckula goes to London to become a detective, there's so much fog the characters can't see anything more than a meter away.
152	* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' strikes a deal with the Fog Monster of Old London Town in a bid to rescue Penfold from Baron Greenback (episode "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse").
153	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheImpossibles'' from the 1960s played with this trope. In "The Terrible Twister" it takes place in foggy London. After he is caught, the Twister is employed to help dispel the thick London Fog, which the LemonyNarrator pokes fun at saying that Londoners can finally see each other.
154	* The ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' episode "Gadget's Clean Sweep," where the main characters go back in time to 19th century London to stop M.A.D. from killing Gadget's ancestors of the time (Char and Chimney Gadget, both of whom are chimney sweeps). In many scenes, there is some kind of fog shown throughout London, and we even have characters disappearing and reappearing in the fog.
155	** Averted in "The Infiltration" and "Unhenged," both of which take place in London.
156	* In the ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'' episode "London Frog", Andy, Carmen, and Leo are all in London, looking for Big Ben, but they aren't able to see it in the fog. Luna helps them find their way through the fog by listening for certain sounds.
157	* ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' lampshades this in 1942's "Spinach Fer Britain" as he approaches London.
158	-->'''Popeye''': [[ShapedLikeItself This pea soup is like fog!]]
159	* In one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Peabody's Improbable History]]'', Peabody and Sherman visit 1880 to assist UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard in the investigation of the disappearance of the Crown Jewels and the [[MonumentalTheft Tower of London]] with them. Fog is the predominant weather condition, and plot-relevant in that [[spoiler:it's the only reason nobody could find the Tower until dawn]].
160	* 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 its characters-disappearing foggy glory.
161	* ''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.
162	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AFoggyDayInLondonTown