09 November 2009

The Great Fire of London started with bacon in the oven


"On the 1st of September 1666, a Saturday night or early Sunday morning, Thomas Farriner, a King's baker, had probably spent quite a lot of the previous day, which was the day of the markets and of receipts, in the pub. He came home and would swear blind, a few days later, that he had swept the oven to make sure that there were no embers there. He also, just for preparation, put two flitches of bacon up into his oven, and then left providence with his slippers and went up to bed. In the next few hours, the basement of his house began to fill with smoke. He was then forced to crawl across the roofs of his house into his neighbour's house, and so started one of the greatest turning points in London's history - the Great Fire of London..."

Image credit.

5 comments:

  1. "Fitches" of bacon or "flitches"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you're right; that's the way it was at the link, but it must be a misprint for flitch.

    Corrected.

    Tx,

    Stan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Time through painting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah bacon, is there anything it can't do?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I guess he wanted it extra crispy.

    ReplyDelete

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