LONDON'S RIVER TURNED MURKY: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched the metropolis. An even more unpleasant force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a foul-smelling mire. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone

The year 845 AD. A chill wind blasted across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent emanating from salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a stormy swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like wolves, sliced through the waters, their flags billowing in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneath the shadow of the coming storm