December 4 Birthday
On December 4, 1952, a temperature inversion trapped coal smoke over London. The smog was so thick that buses could not run and people could not see their feet. The smog lasted five days. An estimated 4,000 died during the event and 8,000 more in the following months. The Clean Air Act of 1956 was a direct response — it restricted coal burning and moved power stations away from cities. The Great Smog demonstrated that air pollution was not a nuisance but a killer. Fred Hampton, twenty-one-year-old deputy chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, was shot and killed by Chicago police on December 4, 1969. He was drugged by an informant and asleep in his bed when police raided his apartment at 4:45 AM. He was shot twice in the head. The raid was part of the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which aimed to "neutralize" Black activist organizations. A civil lawsuit later revealed that the raid had been coordinated with the FBI. People born on December 4 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 4 include 1969: Black Panther leader Fred Hampton killed by Chicago police in pre-dawn raid, 1952: Great Smog of London begins — kills 12,000 over four months, 1991: Pan American World Airways ceases operations after 64 years. Famous people born on December 4 include Thomas Carlyle (1795), Jeff Bridges (1949), Marisa Tomei (1964).