438 Burned to Sticks

The History of England

David Crowther

Medieval, Early Modern, Queen, King, Monarchy, History, Modern, England, Royal, Politics, Europe, Parliament, English

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The war with The Netherlands in 1665 ended on a low, with the Thames blockaded. Poor London - trade was devastated by war, trade was devastated by plague. Hopefully 1666 would be better, as the royal court rumbled back into town. Money was short, but still a fleet was sent out into the Channel, as the good people of London started to rebuild their lives and their businesses. Nothing could be as bad as 1665.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the History of England episode 438.
0:24.0	In 1666, London burnt to sticks.
0:29.4	It is very important that you say the title of this episode in exactly this manner, by the way,
0:35.4	so that you can imagine being with my offspring, Milo, in their primary classroom.
0:40.7	Shall we all do it together? Like a chant, imagine you're sitting on teacher tiny chairs and looking adoringly, your teacher, everything in the world is bright new and exciting. Can you do that? Okay, ready? Okay, after three. One, two, three, in 1666, London Banta Sticks.
1:03.7	Okay, so no prizes for guessing what we're going to be discussing today, among other things I should say.
1:09.2	But, first of all, I have an official correction to make,
1:12.7	courtesy of Daniel. Do you remember that gruesome bit of medical science last time with
1:18.2	peeps? You might want to turn your ears away again if you are in any way squeamish. Okay?
1:25.6	Well, you might remember the small matter of an incision between scrotum and anus without anaesthetic in pursuit of a stone.
1:34.9	Well, I said gallstone, which Daniel informs me, reliably pleasantly and sweetly, would mean that the surgeon would need to insert their arm up to the elbow, or maybe it was
1:44.3	shoulder, actually. And then spookily, just this morning, Rowena got in touch to say the same thing
1:49.2	too. Hello, Rowena. Hope your Christmas in year was good. Either way, much further than you'd
1:55.5	ideally like. So it seems Peep's probably had a bladder stone, not a gallstone.
2:01.8	I hope that has put them out to bed and we can talk about it no more.
2:06.1	So there has been a theme over the last couple of episodes.
2:09.2	We have been enjoying war, pestilence, and there's probably famine somewhere.
2:14.6	And this week I'd like to carry on this happy new tradition.
2:20.3	War-wise, England started off by having a good war against the Dutch in 1665, as we heard, and James Duke of York had won a
2:26.1	cracking victory at Loewstoft. But the Dutch had De Witt, Admiral de Riter, and a shedload of cash
2:33.9	which they were prepared to spend, spend,
2:35.7	spend with bigger ships and diplomatic magic that kept England isolated, friendless and alone,
	...

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