Did Samuel Pepys really bury his cheese during the Great Fire of London?
Yes. On September 4, 1666, with London burning a few streets away, the most fastidious diarist of the seventeenth century buried his Parmesan cheese and his wine in the garden, then went back to writing everything down. In this episode of Talking With Pets, four animal witnesses tell the Great Fire from four positions: Pepys's cat in the garden, a demolition horse in the streets, a shop dog from Cheapside, and a crow above St. Paul's as the cathedral burned.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Talking With Pets, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee contacts the animals of history and lets them tell what they really saw. This is the Witnesses format: several animals, one event, and the discovery that the same day was many different days depending on where you stood. True, surprising, and great for curious kids and the grown-ups listening with them.
This episode is fully scripted and has passed the Talking With Pets accuracy review. The recording is in production. The audio player and the full transcript will appear right here the day the episode goes live. Join the founding list below and we will write to you when it does.
From the episode
Armando: That seems, in its way, practical.
Pepys's cat: (extremely dry) He buried the Parmesan.
Chaco: (looking at his ward-by-ward timeline, then setting it down) You're all describing September 4. And you're all somewhere different.
Pepys's cat: I was in a garden watching a man bury his cheese.
What's true, what we filled in, what we imagined
Every episode of Talking With Pets is built in three honest layers. Here is how this one breaks down.
Documented in the historical record
The Great Fire of London burned September 2 to 6, 1666, starting by accident in a bakery on Pudding Lane. It destroyed about 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and 373 acres of a dense, wooden, medieval city. Firebreaks, buildings demolished ahead of the flames, were the main defense. St. Paul's Cathedral burned on September 4, and the lead of its roof melted and ran in the streets. Fewer than ten deaths were confirmed. Samuel Pepys woke at three in the morning, judged the fire distant, went back to sleep, later watched from a boat on the Thames, buried his Parmesan cheese and wine in the garden, kept writing his diary through all of it, and dug the cheese up afterward, undamaged. King Charles II watched from the riverbank. Christopher Wren's new St. Paul's was completed in 1710.
Grounded inference from the record
Pepys really does mention a cat in diary entries of the period; her opinions about the man she watched are the part we filled in. Solomon the demolition horse and the shop dog from Cheapside are documented-class composites: firebreak demolition crews, their horses, and animals in the fire's path are documented, and the specific animals stand for them. The shop dog's account is honest about fear without dwelling on it, and she says plainly that she got free.
Story, voice, and feeling
The séance, the four voices, and the conversation are imagined. The episode's lesson is real, though: nearly everything we know about the fire in such detail, down to the cheese, we know because one man kept writing things down. A person who writes down small things will write down the large things too, and that is what a primary source is.
Sources and further reading
- The Great Fire of London, September 2 to 6, 1666: the Pudding Lane bakery origin, about 13,200 houses and 87 churches destroyed, 373 acres burned, and the firebreak strategy. Museum of London. museumoflondon.org.uk
- The Diary of Samuel Pepys, September 1666: waking at three in the morning, the boat on the Thames, the buried Parmesan and wine, the king watching from the riverbank, and nine years of daily entries. Public domain editions of the diary.
- St. Paul's Cathedral, September 4, 1666: the wooden scaffolding, the melted lead running in the streets, the booksellers' vault; Christopher Wren's new cathedral, completed 1710. St Paul's Cathedral. stpauls.co.uk
- The death toll: fewer than ten confirmed, possibly higher, remarkably low for the scale. Museum of London. museumoflondon.org.uk
- Pepys's cat: cats appear in the diary entries of the period; the character's testimony about Pepys's actions is sourced to the diary, and her opinions are labeled as inference.
All historical claims above were checked in the Talking With Pets accuracy review, most recently the full editorial pass of July 2026.
Did Samuel Pepys really bury his cheese during the Great Fire of London?
Yes. On September 4, 1666, Pepys buried his Parmesan cheese and his wine in his garden at Seething Lane while the fire moved through the city, then went back to writing in his diary. He later dug the cheese up undamaged. Source: the Diary of Samuel Pepys.
How did the Great Fire of London start?
It started by accident in a bakery on Pudding Lane in the early morning of September 2, 1666, and spread fast through a dense medieval city of wooden buildings and narrow streets. It burned until September 6, destroying about 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and 373 acres of the city. Source: Museum of London.
Did St. Paul's Cathedral really burn?
Yes. Old St. Paul's burned on September 4, 1666. The lead on the roof melted and ran in the streets, and the booksellers' stock stored in the vault was lost. Christopher Wren designed the new St. Paul's, completed in 1710, which still stands today. Source: St Paul's Cathedral; Museum of London.
How many people died in the Great Fire?
Fewer than ten deaths were confirmed, though the true number may have been higher. Given that most of the city burned, the confirmed toll is remarkably low. Firebreaks, buildings pulled down ahead of the flames, were the main way the fire was fought. Source: Museum of London.
What is Talking With Pets, and is it good for kids?
Talking With Pets is an educational history podcast for curious kids ages 6 to 10 and the grown-ups listening with them. A brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee contacts the pets of history's greatest figures, who tell the true story of the person they knew. Every episode is sourced and divided into what is documented, what was filled in, and what was imagined, which makes it a quiet lesson in how to weigh sources. It is a Talking With Pets production.
Talking With Pets · the true stories only the animals saw.
Chaco, Roxie, Moose, Prince MoRee, and Armando are getting the pilot ready. Join the founding list and we will write to you when the first episodes go live. Listen with someone you like.