Welcome back. On today's show, I'm going to cover a slightly different topic than when I normally do.

But sometimes there are just those interesting things in history that you need to know about.

So today, I'm going to teach you about the Great Stink.

The Tudors Dynasty podcast. The Great Stink was a period of time in the 19th century in London, where the city was plagued by an extremely

unpleasant odor caused by the state of its sewage system. The warm and humid summer of 1858

made the situation particularly unbearable and led to a public health crisis. The River Thames, which flowed through the heart of London,

had become a repository for raw sewage, industrial waste, and other pollutants,

and the putrid stench was so overpowering

that it was said to have driven people from their homes

and even caused them to fall ill.

The situation had been building for some time and was a result of a combination of factors,

including London's rapidly growing population, its poor urban planning, and an inadequate sewage system.

The existing system consisted of a series of cesspools and

privies that were emptied into the Thames and other waterways. As a result, the river had become

heavily polluted and contributed to the spreading of diseases like cholera and typhoid.

The problem was further exasperated by the fact that the River Thames was used as a source of drinking water and the polluted water was being consumed by the people of London, again putting

their health at risk. In response to public outcry, the government at the time was forced to take notice,

and they launched a massive engineering project to build a new sewage system for the city.

The project involved the construction of an extensive network of underground sewers,

interceptor sewers, and treatment plants. The new system was designed to

separate fowl and surface water and transport sewage to treatment plants outside the city.

One of the most notable aspects of the new sewage system was the use of gravity to move the

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