Walking Tour: Who needs doctors anyway? A history of public health

But is the common view that all the huge advances in our well being of the last 250 years come down to the role of doctors entirely true?

Take this tour to learn how Joseph Bazalgette may have saved the lives of more Londoners than almost any other Victorian.

As we journey our way through the heart of the capital’s West End, we’ll find out how changes to the way in which we rear and live with animals, buy and store food have saved tens of thousands from disease, while pollution could have have claimed more souls than cholera, by violent and unexpected means we may only just be beginning to understand.

We discover how a study into bus conductors unearthed the connection between exercise and coronary heart disease and the way in which mass house building helped rid Britain of dreaded contagions.

From sewers to vaccines, public baths to cold storage, healthy eating to smoke free heating, this is the story of public health and the pioneers that helped create a world in which fewer of us get sick in the first place.

The walk commences at outside the medicinal garden of the Royal College of Physicians in St Andrews Place and lasts around 2½ hours concluding in Soho.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Saint Andrews Place, Saint Andrews Place, London, United Kingdom