Secret Life of Books

Plague, fire and hanky-panky in Swinging 1660s London: Samuel Pepys' Diary

01 Jul 2025

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Welcome to London in the swinging sixties. One man fights off a towering inferno, navigates a zombie apocalypse, and an invading fleet of evil foreigners, while doing an extraordinary amount of shagging along the way. But we’re not talking about Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. This is the Diary of Samuel Pepys, written in the - flip that 9 upside down - 1660s of Restoration Britain. Pepys’ contribution to history, literature and the modern soul is second to none, but it was his reforms to the navy that made him a big cheese in his day. And, speaking of cheese, this is a man who loves his parmesan - as we’ll be discovering. Without very little precedence to draw upon, Pepys - a nobody at the time - sat down on 1 January 1660 and spilled his soul and most intimate secrets onto the page in a way nobody had done before. He kept it up for the next ten years, giving us a front row seat at the frivolous court of King Charles II, the Great Fire of London, the horrific plague of 1665, and the bosoms of many unfortunate women who willingly or otherwise faced his advances. Join us for the the first episode in a series about personal diaries from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and 1900s. Books mentioned in this episode:Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel PepysJohn Evelyn, The Diary of John EvelynJoseph Addison and Richard Steele, the SpectatorClaire Tomalin, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled SelfSophie Gee, Making Waste: Leftovers and the Literary Imagination -- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio and get bonus content: patreon.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast-- Follow us on our socials:youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shortsinsta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/bluesky: @slobpodcast.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Plague, fire and hanky-panky in Swinging 1660s London: Samuel Pepys' Diary

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The Women Who Made Jane Austen

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