Quiz of the Day
The Great Fire of London
Wednesday, 2 September 2026
The Great Fire began on 2 Sep 1666 — a quiz on the blaze, 17th-century London, Samuel Pepys, and famous fires and disasters through history.
1. In which year did the Great Fire of London begin?
- 1606
- 1666
- 1766
- 1660
The Great Fire of London broke out in the early hours of 2 September 1666 and burned for several days. It came just a year after the Great Plague had devastated the city. The memorable date and its string of sixes have helped fix the year firmly in popular memory.
2. On which London street did the Great Fire start?
- Fleet Street
- Baker Street
- Pudding Lane
- Cheapside
The fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. From there it spread rapidly through the tightly packed timber-framed houses of the medieval city. The Monument to the fire stands close to the spot where the blaze began.
3. Which famous diarist left a vivid eyewitness account of the Great Fire?
- John Milton
- Daniel Defoe
- Samuel Pepys
- William Blake
Samuel Pepys, a naval administrator, recorded the fire in his celebrated diary, describing panicked Londoners and pigeons scorched in the flames. He watched the blaze spread and even reported it directly to King Charles II. His diary remains one of the most important firsthand sources for the event.
4. Which cathedral was destroyed in the fire and later rebuilt by Christopher Wren?
- St Paul's Cathedral
- Southwark Cathedral
- Westminster Abbey
- Canterbury Cathedral
The old St Paul's Cathedral, a vast medieval building, was gutted by the fire as its lead roof melted and stone exploded in the heat. Sir Christopher Wren designed the magnificent domed replacement that still dominates the London skyline today. It took more than 30 years to complete.
5. Who was the reigning King of England during the Great Fire?
- William III
- James II
- Charles II
- Charles I
Charles II had been restored to the throne in 1660, ending the Commonwealth period. During the fire he and his brother James took an active role in directing firefighting efforts, reportedly helping to pass buckets and organise demolition. His involvement helped calm public fears of a foreign plot.
6. What was the name of the baker in whose shop the fire began?
- Thomas Bloodworth
- Thomas More
- Thomas Cromwell
- Thomas Farriner
Thomas Farriner (sometimes spelled Farynor) was the king's baker, and his Pudding Lane premises are traditionally blamed for the outbreak. He insisted his ovens had been safely raked out before he went to bed. The exact cause of the ignition has never been proven.
7. Which deadly epidemic struck London in the year before the Great Fire?
- The Great Plague
- Spanish flu
- Cholera outbreak
- Typhoid epidemic
The Great Plague of 1665 was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in England, killing an estimated 100,000 people. Coming so soon before the fire, the two disasters made the mid-1660s a catastrophic time for the capital. Some later writers even suggested the fire helped end the plague, though historians doubt a direct link.
8. According to his diary, what did Samuel Pepys famously bury in his garden to protect it from the flames?
- His gold coins
- His diary manuscript
- Silver plates
- A parmesan cheese
Pepys wrote that he dug a pit in his garden and buried a parmesan cheese along with his wine to keep them safe from the advancing fire. The detail has become one of the most quoted moments of his account. It captures how ordinary Londoners scrambled to save their most prized possessions.
9. Christopher Wren designed the Monument to the fire together with which pioneering scientist?
- Robert Boyle
- Robert Hooke
- Isaac Newton
- Edmond Halley
Robert Hooke, a brilliant experimental scientist and surveyor, worked with Wren on the design of the Monument, completed in 1677. The tall Doric column was intended partly as a scientific instrument for experiments in astronomy and gravity. Hooke also played a major role in surveying the burnt city for rebuilding.
10. Roughly how long did the Great Fire burn before it was brought under control?
- About two months
- About four days
- A single day
- About two weeks
The fire raged from Sunday 2 September until it was largely extinguished by Wednesday 5 September 1666. Falling winds and the deliberate demolition of buildings to create firebreaks finally halted its spread. In those few days it consumed a huge swathe of the medieval city.
11. Which Lord Mayor of London notoriously dismissed the fire in its early hours?
- Thomas Bloodworth
- John Evelyn
- Robert Hubert
- Thomas Farriner
Sir Thomas Bloodworth, roused from bed as the fire took hold, reportedly scoffed that 'a woman might piss it out' and went back to sleep. His failure to order early demolitions is often blamed for letting the fire grow uncontrollable. His name became a byword for complacency in the face of disaster.
12. A French watchmaker falsely confessed to deliberately starting the fire and was executed. What was his name?
- Robert Boyle
- Robert Hubert
- Robert Walpole
- Robert Hooke
Robert Hubert, a watchmaker from Rouen, gave a confession that was riddled with inconsistencies and almost certainly false. Amid anti-foreign hysteria he was nonetheless convicted and hanged at Tyburn. It later emerged he had not even arrived in London until after the fire began.
13. What method was ultimately used to create firebreaks and stop the fire spreading?
- Steam engines
- Buckets of sand
- Blowing up houses with gunpowder
- Water cannons
As pulling down houses by hand proved too slow, authorities turned to naval gunpowder to blast gaps in the rows of buildings. These firebreaks, combined with easing winds, finally starved the flames of fuel. The tactic had been resisted at first because of the cost of destroying so much property.
14. The Great Fire destroyed the bulk of which historic district of the capital?
- Camden
- Greenwich
- The City of London
- Westminster
The fire ravaged the City of London, the ancient square mile at the heart of the capital, destroying around 13,000 houses and 87 parish churches. Remarkably, the official death toll was recorded as very low, though modern historians suspect many poorer victims went uncounted. The disaster reshaped how the City was built and insured.
15. Which 1871 American blaze is popularly, though falsely, blamed on a cow kicking over a lantern?
- The Great Chicago Fire
- San Francisco Fire
- Great Baltimore Fire
- Great Boston Fire
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed much of the city and left roughly 100,000 people homeless. Legend blamed a cow owned by Catherine O'Leary for kicking over a lantern, but this story was later admitted to be a fabrication by a journalist. Like London two centuries earlier, Chicago rebuilt rapidly and grew into a major modern metropolis.