SAMUEL PEPYS

The diary of Samuel Pepys has to some extent eclipsed the story of the man himself. Though he would become a naval administrator, a member of Parliament and a president of The Royal Society, it is his decade-long diary, begun at the age of 26, that is most invaluable to historians. It offers a worm’s-eye view of Restoration London that is utterly unique and typified by his first-person account of the Great Fire of London.

For five days, from 2 September 1666, Pepys watched flames rage through his beloved home city from an outpost in All Hallows by the Tower church. His description of the tragedy would come to epitomise his entire life: “We saw the fire as only one entire arch of fire from this to the other side of the bridge [...] it made me weep to see it. The churches, houses, and all on