How did the Great Fire of London start

A. When a baker forgot to turn off his oven.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Q. Oh dear. What happened

A. It was on the night of 2 September, 1666. Thomas Farrinor (sometimes spelled Farynor), of Pudding Lane, baker to King Charles II, neglected to make sure his oven was out. He thought the fire was extinguished, but some embers were still - and ignited nearby firewood. By 1am, three hours after Farrinor went to bed, his house was in flames.

Q. He escaped

A. Yes - but London did not. Farrinor, with his wife, daughter and one servant, fled through an upstairs window. But their maid became the Great Fire's first victim.

Q. How many were killed

A. The official death toll is a mere 16 - although many others may have perished without being officially accounted for. Fortunately, though, it did kill thousands of other creatures - rats. But more of that later.

Q. Quite. The fire's progress was rapid

A. Yes. London was then a city of half-timbered medieval buildings, covered with pitch to keep the rain out. They ignited easily - and with a strong wind on that September morning, sparks were flying everywhere. From Pudding Lane, the flames leaped across Fish Street Hill and engulfed the Star Inn. The fire then spread into Thames Street, where quayside warehouses were full of tallow and other inflammable goods.

Q. Were there fire brigades then

A. No - firefighting methods were little more than a human chain passing along a bucket. It was also customary to demolish buildings in the fire's path, to deny it of fuel. However, the Lord Mayor of London, Bludworth, hesitated in giving this order, fearing the cost of rebuilding. It was a bad blunder for Bludworth.

Q. Are there any eyewitness accounts

A. Certainly. The great diarist Samuel Pepys (click here for a separate feature upon this fascinating man) records what happened: 'By and by Jane [one of his maids] comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down tonight ... and that it is now burning down all Fish Street, by London Bridge ... [later, I] saw a lamentable fire ... everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river or bringing them into lighters that lay off; poor people staying in their houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs by the waterside to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconies, till they some of them burned their wings and fell down.'

Q. He was a man of influence. Did he take action

A. Indeed. He went to the top - to the king. 'I was called for, and did tell the King and Duke of York what I saw; and that unless His Majesty did command houses to be pulled down, nothing could stop the fire. They seemed much troubled, and the King commanded me to go to my Lord Mayor from him, and command him to spare no houses...'

Q. Did that do the trick

A. Not really - it was too late. The fire raged for three days. It destroyed about 80 per cent of the city, including 13,200 houses, nearly 90 parish churches, and nearly 50 livery company halls - an area of more than 430 acres.

Q. And this is where Wren came in

A. Yes. The great architect, Sir Christopher Wren, designed and oversaw the construction of 49 new churches, as well as the new St Paul's Cathedral.

Q. And the rats

A. Amazingly, the fire may actually have saved countless lives. After 5 September, the Black Plague, which had ravished London since 1664, abruptly declined, probably because the rats that helped to transmit the disease were killed in the flames.

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By Steve Cunningham