This British History Podcast brings to life the Great Fire of London: dramatising the stories of the people caught up in the worst disaster the capital has ever witnessed.

On Saturday 2nd September 1666, Thomas Farriner and his family went to bed - failing to properly put out the fire in their bakery oven. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the smouldering embers reignited - setting fire to the building. The flames rapidly spread though a city of built of timber.

The fire quickly grew out of control, one by one engulfing the streets of the City of London.

Our great fire of London podcast tells the story of the conflegration though the words of London’s great diarist Samuel Pepys, as he struggles to save his house and possessions, and takes orders from King Charles II to try and save the city.

Hear how the dissolute and vulgar Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, was alerted to the desperate situation - but made the fatal mistake that would leave the city in embers.

Listen to the story of how the residents fought to save their homes. Why the iconic St. Paul's Cathedral was caught in the fire's path. How efforts to create firebreaks by demolishing buildings were defied by the irresistible inferno.

When the winds began to subside and the fire started to die down, 13,200 houses and dozens of churches were gone. Londoners were refugees in their own city.

Is it true that only six people died in the great fire? Who did Londoner’s blame for the tragedy? And who could stop the violent street gangs looking for a scapegoat?

Why did King Charles II refuse to have his his statue on the monument to the tragedy? And why was the fire blamed on sin of gluttony?

Though the accounts of witnesses such as Pepys and John Evelyn, and the Londoners who fought the flames, this British history podcast brings the story of the Great Fire of London to life in this dramatic episode

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