The Great Fire of London - 1666.

1. In the middle of the 17^th century London was the largest city in England with a population of 500,000 people. At this time most London streets were narrow and dirty, with closely packed wooden houses and shops. Sometimes there were fires in the city, but they were usually very small. Then came 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London. The heart of England's capital, the City of London was destroyed by fire.

2. The great fire of London began as a small fire on Pudding Lane, the house of the king's baker, near London Bridge. The baker's wife woke up in the middle of the night and found the house aflame. The baker and his family tried to escape through a window and along a roof gutter to a neighbouring house. All were successful except for a maid servant who was too frightened to clamber over the roof. She stayed and became the first victim of the fire.

3. The strong wind from the river that blew that night sent sparks that ignited the Church of St. Margaret and the neighbouring houses. The citizen firefighting brigades had little success in containing the fire with their buckets of water from the river. By 8 o'clock in the morning, the fire had spread halfway across London Bridge. The only thing that stopped the fire from spreading on the other side of the river, was the gap that had been caused by the fire of 1633.

4. The standard procedure to stop a fire from spreading had always been to destroy the houses on the way of the flames, creating “fire-breaks”, to deprive a fire from fuel. But Lord Mayor Bludworth was hesitant, worrying about the cost of rebuilding. By the time a Royal command came down, the fire was too out of control to stop.

5. The fire blazed uncontrollably for another 3 days, until it died out near Temple Church. Then, it suddenly sprang to life again, continuing towards Westminster. The Duke of York had the presence of mind to order the Paper House demolished to create a fire break, and the fire finally died down.

6. After 5 days of the fire 80% of London was destroyed, including 13,000 houses, 89 churches, and 52 Guild Halls. More than 250.000 people found themselves homeless and financially ruined. But the fire seemed to do the city good, as it cleared away the old wooden houses and dirty, narrow streets.