For the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, Horrible Histories returns for a one-off special looking at the disaster and the events that surrounded it. On the night of 2 September, a spark from a baker’s oven in Pudding Lane ignited a fire which roared through the tightly packed streets of London, tearing up the timber-framed houses and destroying up to a third of the city. In true Horrible Histories fashion, this special episode explores London and Britain before the fire, full of plague and party in the raucous Restoration atmosphere personified by King Charles II. We see how London’s Mayor preferred to stay in bed during the fire because been partying the night before, and how Samuel Pepys rushed to bury his parmesan cheese for safety.
