Traffic in smog at night, 1956 50.82/1113a A crowd of people skate

A crowd of people skate and amuse themselves on the frozen Serpentine

alongside a photograph of himself

The districts covered are Whitehall and St James

The charismatic Leighton had networked energetically with artists and patrons throughout the 1850s

fur and agricultural produce

Traffic in smog at night, 1956 50.82/1113a A crowd of people skateTraffic in smog at night. Heavy smog was common in London in the 1950s and this photograph was taken only four years after the Great Smog of 1952, which claimed at least 8,000 lives, half of which in the immediate aftermath of the Smog. Following an investigation, Parliament passed the Clean Air Act of 1956, which marked London's move away from coal burning as the primary heating source to gas, oil and electricity.