Episode One (Saved in BBC iPlayer for one week from broadcast)
Episode Two (10h45 Today, repeated 19h45 this evening)
This first episode is a wonderful interplay between domestic and civil life, the prospect of joining the ship that will fetch the King from exile, while the 'wench' who works for them refuses to kill the turkey they've been feeding up because it's her friend.
On the 1st of January 1660, the 26 year old Samuel Pepys decides to start keeping a diary.
He's behind with his rent, he goes out too often, and drinks too much. He lies awake worrying about work, and despite being happily married, can't keep his hands off other women.
He gives us eyewitness accounts of some of the great events of the 17th century but he also tells us what people ate, wore, what they did for fun, the tricks they played on each other, what they expected of marriage, and of love affairs.
This BBC radio drama is on every day at 10.45 and again in the evening at 19.45. Episode 2 today.
Follow Samuel Pepys on Twitter. You get regular 140 characters or less updates.
Read his diary, offered on a the basis of 'on this day 350 years ago.'
Nothing's changed much, the most important things in our life are loves, family and friends. Our lives may touch on the politics and events of the time, they may not. Pepy's got through the restoration of the King, Plague and the Fire of London.
He so often ends is entry with, 'and so to bed'.
For radio for boring bits have been left out; it therfore reads like a novel.
Not a recommended style for these pages, but great for an external blog in Wordpress, Blogger or LiveJournal. Or my favourite, Diaryland.
