Two days later, The Times carried a first-person account of the bombing from William W. White, an Associated Press reporter. “We put in three calls to the Fire Department, but they were too busy to help us, for other bigger fires were raging in the neighborhood,” Mr. White wrote. “‘The building can’t be saved,’ somebody yelled and we ‘ran for it.’”

Firefighters managed to save the iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral from the flames, reportedly on direct orders from the prime minister, Mr. Churchill.

Aug. 16, 1980: Arson at an Illegal Soho Bar

Denmark Street, on the edges of the Soho neighborhood, has been home to guitar shops and venues for emerging musicians for decades. But before commercial development in the area, it was the site of scruffy night life, including clubs that patrons entered by yelling up for a key. In 1980, a fire in two clubs killed 37 people when a disgruntled customer set fire to one of them. Both venues were friendly escapes for club-goers of many nationalities, including Colombians who worked nearby and came off shifts to dance salsa. Accounts of the blaze said it was devastating, but according to an investigation in the Independent newspaper, few remember it today.