A Mixture of English Disasters Quiz

Answer: Pudding Lane

Pudding Lane is the small street in London widely known as the location of Thomas Farriner's bakery where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. This great fire destroyed over 70,000 homes. Most of the City was burned down except for a small area in the north-east. Westminster, which contained Charles II's Palace of Whitehall and several other major buildings, was not affected.

Answer: Apollo Theater

In 2013, 110 sq ft of the Apollo Theater's ornate plasterwork ceiling collapsed on an audience. The incident may have been caused by heavy rain. Two people were trapped but later were rescued.

Answer: The Great Stink

This was an event that was caused by the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent present on the banks of the River Thames. It is also possible that it caused bouts of cholera. As a result London made major changes in the sewer system of the city.

Answer: Marchioness

The Marchioness disaster was caused by a collision of two ships in the Thames. The Marchioness and the Bowbelle hit each other, with the Marchioness sinking. This was probably caused by human error and new lifeboat stations were later built on the river.

Answer: 1928 Thames flood

In 1928 the Thames flood parts of the Thames Embankment and part of the Chelsea Embankment collapsed. It caused the last major flood of Central London. This occurrence was responsible for the construction of the Thames Barrier in the 1970s.

Answer: Tornado

The London tornado of 1091 destroyed over 600 houses. The wooden London Bridge was destroyed and many churches suffered great damage. Despite the extensive physical damage the tornado caused only two deaths.

Answer: Sandhurst Road School

A German bomber dropped a bomb on the Sandhurst Road School on January 20, 1943. This bombing killed 38 children and six of the staff. The air raid alarms did not sound and from the air the school looked like a factory.

Answer: Fatal Vespers

Fatal Vespers saw the 1623 collapse of French ambassador's house. The floor of an upper room in the house collapsed from the weight of 260 people who were attending a mass there. This accident led to nearly a hundred casualties.

Answer: True

In 1814, the Meux and Company Brewery had a vat of beer rupture. This caused 323,000 imperial gallons of beer to gush into the streets. It destroyed a couple of buildings and killed people caught in the path of the flood of beer.

Answer: False

Ronan Point was a 22-story block building that partially collapsed in 1968 only two months after opening. The poor design of the building caused one corner of the building to collapse killing four and injuring 17.