MICHELLE: We should run through some of the terrible consequences of the eruption experienced in different countries. There’s quite a varied range.

ADAM: Starting with Iceland, where the impact on farming was devastating.

MICHELLE: Mmm. One of the most dramatic things there was the effect on livestock as they grazed in the fields. They were poisoned because they ate vegetation that had been contaminated with fluorine as a result of the volcanic fallout.

ADAM: That was horrible. In Egypt, the bizarre weather patterns led to a severe drought and as a result the Nile didn’t flood, which meant the crops all failed.

MICHELLE: It’s so far from where the eruption happened and yet the famine there led to more people dying than any other country. It was worse than the plague.

ADAM: OK. Then in the UK the mortality rate went up a lot- presumably from respiratory illnesses. According to one report it was about double the usual number and included an unusually high percentage of people under the age of 25.

MICHELLE: Mmm. I think people will be surprised to hear that the weather in the USA was badly affected too. George Washington even makes a note in his diary that they were snowbound until March in Virginia. That was before he became president.

ADAM: Yes, and there was ice floating down the Mississippi, which was unprecedented.

MICHELLE: Astonishing, really. Anyway, what do you think …