Samuel Pepys - A True Londoner

It's not like Londoners to grumble (we've faced fire, plague and revolution after all) so when Pepys had to undergo surgery in 1658 he was always going to take it like a champ. The removal of a large bladder stone (apparently snooker ball-sized) without sterilisation or pain relief is possibly one of the worst things imaginable. Despite the surgeon being the celebrated Thomas Hollier, risks of the procedure were high but Pepys pulled through. To mark his incredible survival he used to have lavish meals on the anniversary of the operation, he called these 'Stone Feasts'. Any excuse for a party.

Not content with simply being the President of Royal Society, an MP and Secretary to the Admiralty, Pepys loved his culture too. Everyone's a critic, but Pepys had a particular (cutting) way of summarising plays he didn't like and he was also a dab hand on the lute and various other instruments. He even employed a private guitar teacher called Cesare. If alive now he'd probably be running open mic nights in Peckham.

While the Great Fire of London was raging, Pepys borrowed a cart house to “to carry away all my money, and plate, and best things”. The next day (3rd September 1666) fearing the security of his house in the path of the fire, he buried some items in his garden; “I did dig another [hole], and put my Parmesan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things.” Truly he had he priorities straight.

Pepys often complained of eye strain; 'I perceive my overworking of my eyes by candle light doth hurt them … So I intend to get some green spectacles.’ There’s a record of him buying two new pairs from John Turlington in 1667, opting for a perfectly circular bottle green design, a kind that wouldn’t look out of place on Kingsland Road. 

 

To read posts from Katie Wignall see Look Up London