Disastrous London

Bloody, Flaming, Poxy London. Plague, Fire & Revolution. The Black Death. Churchyards brimming with bodies. The harvest of Death. The zombie apocalypse – but for real. What changes? Everything.

We start at an ancient Carthusian priory built next to a plague pit so the brothers could pray for the tormented souls of the dead. We visit an execution spot. But not just any execution spot – THE execution spot – Protestants (yep, the big reboot) and Mel Gibson (ahem). We visit the site of revolt – in effect tour a battlefield – a poll tax – not Maggie – this is 1381, a Lord Mayor, a king, a revolutionary. Spoiler alert. It ends badly. Fast forward to 1666 and the Great Fire (we’ll see several pre-fire structures), the Duke of York and 100 men, poised, a last stand – Cock Lane (yep, it’s exactly what it says on the tin) and then a peek at London’s great phoenix, St. Paul’s, raised from the ashes in all its glory.

Quenching your thirst at Shakespeare’s gaff is – temporarily, we hope – not on the cards. But at least we can get a good look at it. And why not? Because, yes, he finally bought a place, in Ireland Yard, the Blackfriars gatehouse. And, yes, Shakespeare’s cellar is still there.

The pints there – when this pandemic is finally history, a bad memory – the pints there will once again come up from Shakespeare’s cellar.