A much more recently written offering behind today’s advent window: Rebecca Ridal’s 1666: plague, war and hellfire, which was published last year. This might be viewed as a history, rather than a social history but there is so much about everyday life in this volume, that I feel justified in including it. Although the title is 1666, the book starts with an account of the plague of the preceding year. Skillful use of contemporary sources introduces us to a turbulent eighteen months in London’s history and events that reverberated around the country. The account is presented from the viewpoint of key characters, the well-known and the less well-known. We meet Nell Gwynn, Samuel Pepys, Charles II, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, all names that evoke the atmosphere of the age. Others who walk across the pages of the book may not be household names, unless you have studied the history of the period. For example: Aphra Behn, playwright and spy; Cornelius Tromp, Dutch naval commander; Nathaniel Hodges, a physician and Thomas Vincent, who provides a Puritan perspective.

Most of us are familiar with plague and fire from our schooldays. The book also covers the Dutch Wars and the dawning of the scientific age. The fears of a still largely suspicious populous as they faced these disasters, disasters that most believed to be punishments from God, are portrayed well. The style is accessible and the book can be read as you would a novel. I could imagine myself walking through London’s streets as I read. Living as I do in the seventeenth century, I found this book fascinating. I wish this had been published when I was researching my own seventeenth century social history, Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs, as there is an extensive bibliography, together with the endnotes, providing plenty of leads to follow up. There are also some attractive coloured plates and three maps in the printed version.

Yesterday I spent a slightly chilly day, with other authors, attempting to sell books to the local populace. I did duck out for fifteen minutes to take a look at an early twentieth century Magistrate’s Court record that was written in the most appalling handwriting I have seen – think the stereotypical prescription scrawl. If I say that it made my handwriting seem legible you may get the idea. Sadly the case I was looking for for Barefoot on the Cobbles was not recorded at all. Very strange, considering that it was heavily reported in the press. Today I have my non-conformist history hat on as I am off to address the Exeter group of Devon Family History Society about ‘Toleration or Turmoil?: English non-conformity and our ancestors’. This may not be quite what the audience are expecting but I hope they enjoy it. I am told there will be posh biscuits in honour of the festive season – great!