So what explains this remarkable alacrity? A quirk of geography: London’s parliament is located next to the River Thames. Officials tried to shield lawmakers from the Great Stink, soaking the building’s curtains in chloride of lime in a bid to mask the stench. But it was no use – try as they might, the politicians couldn’t ignore it. The Times described, with a note of grim satisfaction, how Members of Parliament had been seen abandoning the building’s library, ‘each gentleman with a handkerchief to his nose’. If only concentrating politicians’ minds were always that easy.
