As dawn broke bright and clear on the first day of September 1666, no one dreamed they were waking to the last sunrise the old city would ever see. No one dreamed that over the next six days that hell would break loose as fear and flame turned the streets of London into Armageddon. In this lecture, historian Adrian Tinniswood will explore what it was like to walk through London in September 1666. He will piece together the untold story of the Fire—the mild curiosity which turned to fear as the flames spread, the panic, looting, bewilderment, savage violence and chaos. He will investigate the aftermath of the disaster, and the doomed efforts to create a modern, planned capital that would rival Rome. Above all, he will provide a dramatic account of what happened to ordinary people—schoolchildren, servants, clerks, courtiers and clergymen—when London burned.

Thank you to our co-sponsor: The Union League Legacy Foundation

Thank you to our cultural co-sponsors: Washington Decorative Arts Forum; American Friends of Attingham; The Boston Athenaeum