¶In the early morning hours of September 2, 1666, the Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II’s baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. It soon spread to Thames Street, where warehouses filled with combustibles and a strong easterly wind transformed the blaze into an inferno. When the Great Fire finally was extinguished on September 6, more than four-fifths of London was destroyed. Miraculously, only 16 people were known to have died.

¶Sometimes I get a reminder of the different lengths of historical timelines between the United States and England. This story did that for me today. I hadn’t heard of the Great Fire of London until earlier this week when it was mentioned in a now-cancelled Scottish detective show we’re currently watching (Annika). They mentioned the year of the Great Fire (1666) in an episode, but I believe that was it.

¶This morning I stumbled across this story, which sets the date of its beginning as September 2nd of that year. And that’s what registered with me.

¶“[M]ore than four-fifths of London was destroyed” in 1666, which is 100 years before the American Revolution of 1776.

¶And another time warp from this story: it took the bakers more than 300 years to issue a formal apology:

¶In 1986, London’s bakers finally apologized to the lord mayor for setting fire to the city. Members of the Worshipful Company of Bakers gathered on Pudding Lane and unveiled a plaque acknowledging that one of their own, Thomas Farrinor, was guilty of causing the Great Fire of 1666.

¶Comparing timelines in history can be quite interesting.