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  • In pictures

Fairs, fires and the future of Smithfield

As meat trading in the area ends, Tom Bolton looks at the history of London’s Smithfield, which has been a place of healing and death, markets and mess for 900 years.

  • Article

Thunderbolts and lightning

Fire in the sky has always exerted a hold on our imagination, even as early scientists unlocked the secrets of atmospheric electricity.

  • Article

A bad atmosphere in the Balkans

The citizens of Belgrade, one of the most polluted cities in Europe, are finally pushing back against the polluters, whose activities they’ve been encouraged to accept.

  • Article

Why zombies can’t help coming back

Although it might appear that zombies are a 20th-century phenomenon, created for the horror-movie industry, they’ve actually been around since medieval times. Find out what zombies like to do, and how to get rid of them.

All stories (71)

Images

  • Protect your child from fire : close fitting garments plus fire guards spell safety : see also our pamphlet "A child in danger" / Fire Offices' Committee, Fire Protection Association, London.
  • Fire-fighters and fire-fighting techniques. Process print after R. Cleaver.
  • Fire-engines. Engraving.
  • Fire engines. Engraving.
  • Agni, god of fire.
  • Westminster Hall: fire-fighters preventing the fire of 1834 from entering the hall. Coloured lithograph, 1834.
  • A fire-engine drawn by horses races through the streets to attend to a fire. Wood engraving.
  • A fire-eater kindling fire in his lungs with the remedy Thermogène. Colour lithograph by Leonetto Cappiello, 1909.
  • Fire-engines. Engraving by J. Pass.
  • Parts of a fire-engine. Engraving.
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