Remaking History

An extract from the diary of a well-known historical figure that startlingly reverses received ideas about history and the person in question

The second day of September in the year of our Lord, sixteen hundred and sixty six:

Wearied by wife, fled frantic to Fleet Street and thence to the Fountain inn where, after much musique and wine, was minded to wander eastward and there, sore addled, did stumble on tinder box wherein were pockets containing flint, steel, char cloth and shavings of wood.

Staggering hence into Pudding Lane was compelled to relieve myself by Farrinor’s bake house and there, needing light, did strike flint on steel, igniting char cloth and shavings of wood.

Such was the mighty blaze and so fearsome the fire’s rapid spread, I did hasten back to my dwelling and there record this account which, judiciously altered, shall later inform my diary.

And so to bed, ready to feign surprise when one of the maids espies the fire and stirs me anon to witness the sight. (Samuel Pepys)