How many monarchs sat on the throne in Pepys s life

A.� Good question from GrahamQ. As comeleon said: Samuel Pepys was born in 1633 when Charles I was on the throne. Charles was beheaded in 1649. From 1649-1658 Oliver Cromwell ruled a Commonwealth; He was succeeded reluctantly by his son Richard; Charles II was restored in 1660 and reigned until 1685; James II reigned 1685-1688; William and Mary 1689-1702; Queen Anne came to the throne in 1702. Pepys died in 1703.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

�

Q. So tell me about Pepys's childhood.

A.� Samuel Pepys was born in Salisbury Court off Fleet Street on 23 February, 1633. His father, John, was a tailor, his mother Margaret Kite was sister of a Whitechapel butcher and Samuel was fifth of 11 children. Samuel was sent off to Huntingdonshire in 1642 to live with his uncle, Robert Pepys of Brampton, who worked in the household of his relatives, the Mountagus of Hinchingbrooke. Samuel attended the grammar school at Huntingdon.

�

Q.� When did he start his famous diary

A.� 1659.

�

Q.� After doing what

A.� He returned to London after the civil war and entered St Paul's School. He took his bachelor's degree at Magdalene College Cambridge in 1654 and entered the service of Admiral Edward Mountagu as his secretary and agent in London. By 1655 Pepys had married 15-year-old Elizabeth St Michel, daughter of a Huguenot exile. As Mountagu's responsibilities grew, so did Pepys's, looking after the Mountagu estate and business in London, during absences abroad on naval service and visiting Hinchingbrooke.

�

Q.� But why the diary

A.� The late 1650s were turbulent times in England. Oliver Cromwell died in September, 1658, and left no real successor apart from his son Richard, who was no politician. Pepys, a vain man, found he had plenty to write about, apart from himself and his success. He had made great political connections through Mountagu (then Earl of Sandwich) and gained high government office as one of the principal officers of the navy administration. He has been described as first great modern bureaucrat, a founder of the professional navy and a great 'accidental' historian.

�

Q.� I believe the diary entries were written in code

A.� Shorthand - in fact the same system that Isaac Newton used when writing.

�

Q.� Pepys published his diary to great success

A.� No. His diary, donated upon his death to Magdalene College, was rediscovered in 1818. A small selection was published in 1825, and popular simplified editions of the complete 'translated' diary in 1848 and 1875.

�

Q.� Heavily edited Why

A.� Well, they were a bit saucy. Pepys probably never intended that they should be seen by anyone else and he gave full details of rude behaviour with his domestic staff as well as his lone habits. The complete diary (some 10 volumes) was published for the first time by the University of California Press in 1970.

�

Q.� What else did he get up to

A.� Loads. In 1660, Pepys became treasurer to the fleet; in 1673 he became Secretary of the Admiralty; he was in charge of the Navy during the Dutch war of 1674-1674; he established the basis for professional naval service for the first time in English history and initiated the largest shipbuilding programme to that time; in 1684 he became Secretary for Admiralty Affairs. He left public service in 1689.

�

Q. And all this is recorded in his diary

A.� Oh no. The diary lasted only until 1669. He stopped because of his expanding duties and his worry that his eyesight was failing.

�

Q.� Let's have an example of the great man's wit and wisdom.

A.� Just a couple, then.�I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. Plus: Strange to say what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition.

�

Q.� And so to bed

A.� Yes. Pepys (who often used this phrase to sign off each day) died a rich and powerful man, friend to Isaac Newton, John Evelyn and Christopher Wren. He was president of the Royal Society from 1684 to 1686. He maintained a library of more than 3,000 volumes, which he bequeathed to Magdalene College. But most of all, he let us know about the spirit of his times.

�

�

�

By Steve Cunningham