Hello, everyone.

It's Mr. Brown with your English lesson for today, and it's a really exciting one because we're going to be gaining as much knowledge as we possibly can about the Great Fire of London.

'Cause to be able to write a non-chronological report on the Great Fire of London, you need to know everything you can about the Great Fire of London.

So that's what we'll be doing today.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can gain knowledge about the Great Fire of London.

And the keywords which will help us with our learning today are knowledge, history.

My turn, your turn, knowledge, history.

Very good.

The lesson outline for our learning on generating knowledge about the Great Fire of London, we will first look at the historical context of the Great Fire of London.

Really trying to understand when this event happened and what London was like when it happened.

We'll then move our learning onto the key events of the Great Fire of London and understanding how this incredible part of history unfolded.

So, my first question to you is, what did you have for dinner yesterday? What did you have for dinner yesterday? What was your favourite school trip last year? Maybe think of the answer to that question.

To think of the answers to these questions, you are having to think about the past.

The past is everything that has already happened.

This could be a minute ago, yesterday, last week, a year ago or 300 years ago.

Everything counts as the past.

At school, we learn about the past in a subject that is called history.

I wonder if history is one of your favourite subjects.

History is the study or learning of past events.

History is a bit like a time machine that helps us learn about all the amazing things that have happened in the past.

It's a treasure chest full of stories about people, places and events from a long time ago.

By exploring history, we can understand how the world has changed and discover the exciting adventures of those who came before us.

There is so much to explore about the history of our world, and that's why we have this incredible subject called history, which does that.

It tells us, it helps us to learn about everything.

So true or false? History is the study or learning of past events.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and decide now.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

Congratulations if you said true.

Absolutely.

History is the study or learning of past events.

Well done.

Today, we will be learning about an important event in history that happened over 350 years ago.

So a long, long, long, long time.

The event is called the Great Fire of London.

Just using the name of the event, can you predict what might have happened and where it took place? So all you know thus far is the name of the event, the Great Fire of London.

So just from that name, can you try and work out what happened and where it happened? Have a think.

Hmm, let's see if you were right.

London is the capital city of England, which is part of the United Kingdom.

I wonder if you've ever been to London.

London is located in the southeast of England, on the River Thames.

And you can see a couple of photographs of what London looks like now.

And there's the River Thames.

There's also a map of the United Kingdom.

And you can see the little red star is where London is, in the southeast of England.

What is the capital city of England? Is it A, London, B, Manchester or C, Leeds? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

The capital city of England is, of course, London.

Well done if you said A, London.

Where is London located within England? Is it A, the southwest, B, southeast or C, northeast? And you can see at the top right-hand side of that picture, there is a compass.

And the compass has north, south and then east and west.

Have a look and see where you think London is located, A, B or C.

Pause the video and decide now.

And welcome back.

Okay, congratulations if you said southeast, B.

Southeast is where London is located within England.

London is the biggest city in the United Kingdom, and around 9 million people live there.

However, the Great Fire of London happened a long time ago, and London was very different.

So between 1666 and 2024, 358 years have passed.

So that gives you an idea about how long ago the Great Fire of London took place.

The Great Fire of London took place in the year 1666.

The king at the time was King Charles II.

350,000 people lived in London at that time, which is a lot, but it's so much fewer than today.

However, London was still one of the largest cities in Europe.

London looked entirely different in 1666 to what it does today.

The buildings were not made of brick, metal and glass like they are now.

While some brick and stone buildings did exist, most were made of wood, and they had thatched roofs, which means their roofs were made of straw.

People's homes were positioned very close together, and lots of buildings were tightly packed onto narrow streets.

Let's check our understanding.

In 1666, buildings were mostly made from which material? A, glass, B, brick or C, wood.

Pause the video and decide A, B or C now.

Welcome back.

Let's see.

So we said that in 1666, the buildings were not made of glass.

There was some made of brick, but not many.

Mostly made of C, wood.

Well done if you said C.

There was no organised fire brigade in 1666.

It is not like today, where if a fire unfortunately happens, we call 999 and the fire brigade come and put out the fire.

Firefighting was very basic, with little skill or knowledge involved.

Leather buckets, axes and water squirts were used to fight the fire, but had little effect.

So leather buckets.

I'm sure we can imagine what a bucket is, but we don't use leather buckets now.

We use plastic buckets 'cause they're lighter.

Leather buckets probably would have been very heavy filled with water.

Axes.

Well, we know what an axe is, an axe.

We mostly imagine an axe would be used to chop down a tree.

So perhaps axes were used to break up the wood in the houses, to help them get in and out to be able to put out fires.

And water squirts were a bit like water pistols that we might have now.

So we might play with a water pistol in the summer.

Something that you load up with water and then you squirt the water out.

Now, water squirts were similar, but not like the hoses that firefighters use today.

Water used to help stop the fire came from the River Thames and was difficult to transport without fire engines like we have today.

So people were using buckets and water squirts to take water from the River Thames to the fire.

It sounds like a very difficult process already.

True or false, in 1666, the fire brigade used hoses to put out fires? Is that true or false? Pause the video and decide now.

And welcome back.

Congratulations if you said false.

Of course, they did not have hoses.

They had leather buckets, axes and water squirts.

Let's move on to a practise task.

I would like you to write a list of reasons why a fire may have spread quickly and been difficult to put out in London in 1666.

Try and think about the following when writing your list: what the buildings were made from, how the buildings were positioned, who would help putting out a fire, what equipment was available for fighting a fire.

Pause the video and write a list of reasons why a fire may have spread quickly and been difficult to put out in London in 1666.

Over to you.

Okay, let's take a look at some of the reasons why a fire may have spread quickly and been difficult to put out in London in 1666.

The buildings were made from wood and had thatched roofs.

So this would have definitely been a reason.

The materials the buildings were made of are materials that burn quickly and easily.

So this contributed to the fire spreading from building to building very quickly.

The buildings were positioned close together on narrow streets.

Again, another reason the fire did not have far to go to be able to reach the next building.

There was no organised fire brigade.

So when the fire started, there was nobody who could act quickly and put the fire out.

The equipment they had was very basic, buckets, axes and water squirts.

They didn't have the hoses that firefighters would use today.

Let's move on to our next learning cycle, and that's the key events of the Great Fire of London.

The Great Fire of London started on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

A really fun and effective way to remember this date is that it has lots of ss sounds in, Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

So many ss sounds, and that helps me to remember this date.

Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, was the day the Great Fire of London started.

It started in a bakery belonging to the king's baker, a man named Thomas Farriner.

So he would have been the man who would have provided the baked food for the king.

The bakery was located on a street called Pudding Lane.

Let's check our understanding.

When did the Great Fire of London start? Was it A, Saturday, the 1st of September, 1666? Was it B, Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666? Or was it C, Sunday, the 22nd of September, 1666? Pause the video and decide A, B or C.

And welcome back.

Okay, congratulations if you said Sunday, so that rules out A, the 2nd of September, 1666.

Well done if you said B.

There was no electricity or gas, so people used fires for light, heating and cooking.

Thomas Farriner used a fire in his oven to cook the bread to sell in his bakery.

It is believed that Farriner forgot to put out his oven at the end of the day and a spark caused a fire to break out in the bakery.

This is how it is believed that the Great Fire of London started.

And you can see from that picture what a fire, what's a bakery hundreds of years ago might have looked like London was experiencing a very hot, dry summer.

And at this particular time, there was also strong winds.

The fire could easily spread from house to house because they were so close together, and made of wood and straw, which burn easily, especially when they're dry.

The conditions were perfect for the fire to spread.

And the wind, well, that just blew the flames from building to building.

So what the materials were, what the houses were built of, the wood and straw, combine this with a very hot, dry summer in London, and then add strong winds into the equation, and you have got a perfect combination of factor, which led to the Great Fire of London spreading so quickly.

What were most houses made of in 1666? Was it A, wood and straw, B, brick and stone or C, metal and glass? Pause the video and decide A, B or C now.

Welcome back.

So we said that it wasn't metal and glass.

That's what buildings are made of now in London, lots of buildings, but it wasn't C, metal and glass.

Brick and stone.

We said that some buildings were made from brick and stone, but not most.

Most houses were made of wood and straw.

So well done if you said A.

Very quickly, the whole of Pudding Lane was on fire.

Before long, the fire had spread to the nearby areas and showed no sign of stopping.

Londoners tried to battle the flames, but with only buckets, axes and water squirts, they did very little to stop the fire.

The lord mayor of London was asked if he would allow people to make firebreaks to stop the fire spreading across the city.

However, he said no.

Now, firebreaks are gaps where a fire has nothing to burn.

And these would be created by people blowing up, exploding buildings with gunpowder.

So if the people were to blow up a building, it would obviously not exist anymore.

It would be torn down so there wouldn't be anything for the fire to burn.

It would then stop the spread of the fire.

But the lord mayor originally said no, he didn't want this to happen.

He didn't want buildings in his beautiful city of London to be destroyed.

However, on the third day of the fire, the lord mayor had no choice but to agree to using firebreaks to try and stop the fire spreading.

He knew that this might be the only thing that could stop the fire spreading.

True or false, firebreaks are created by people blowing up buildings with gunpowder? Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back.

Congratulations if you said true.

It is.

Firebreaks are when people blow up buildings with gunpowder to try and stop the spread of a fire.

The winds gradually dropped, and this helped to slow the spread of the fire across London.

After four days, the fire was eventually extinguished, which means put out, extinguished on Thursday, the 6th of September.

The damage caused by the fire was immense.

It was huge.

436 acres of London were destroyed.

An acre is a large area, so 436 of them, you can imagine is such a huge, huge amount of London that was destroyed.

13,200 houses were completely ruined.

Out of London's 109 churches, 87 were wrecked by the fire and had to be torn down.

It took over 50 years for parts of London destroyed in the fire to be fully repaired.

New rules and regulations were designed to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again.

The streets were widened.

So they weren't narrow anymore, they were widened.

Houses space further apart, and buildings now had to be made of brick, instead of wood.

The Great Fire is one of the most significant events to ever take place in London and people still learn about this devastating part of history today.

Let's check your understanding.

Which three of these were done as part of new rules to stop a disaster like the Great Fire of London ever happening again? A, the streets were widened.

B, fire alarms added.

C, houses spaced apart.

D, buildings made from brick.

So which of these things were done in 1666 after the Great Fire of London to stop a disaster like this ever happening again? Three answers.

Pause the video and find your three answers now.

And welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

So A, the streets were widened.

C, houses were spaced further apart and D, buildings were made from brick.

Fire alarms have been added, but this did not happen until much, much later.

Let's have a practise.

I would like you to fill in the missing words.

Use your knowledge from this lesson on the Great Fire of London to fill in the missing words.

The Great Fire of London started on mm, 2nd of September, mm.

What do you think? The fire began in a bakery on mm lane, which belonged to a man named mm.

Farriner.

The flames spread quickly because the houses were all close mm and made of mm and straw.

The lord mm ordered firebreaks to be used, which involved blowing up mm with gunpowder to stop the fire spreading.

The fire raged for mm days before it was eventually stopped.

Your job, to fill in those gaps.

Pause the video, take your time and have a go now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you were right.

The Great Fire of London started on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

Well done if you managed to get the dates right.

Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

The fire began in a bakery on Pudding Lane, which belonged to a man named Thomas Farriner.

The flames spread quickly because the houses were all close together and made of wood and straw.

The lord mayor ordered firebreaks to be used, which involved blowing up buildings with gunpowder to stop the fire spreading.

The fire raged for four days before it was eventually stopped.

Congratulations if you got all of those correct.

If you got some of those correct, well done.

This is a lot of knowledge, and you have absorbed so much of it.

If you got any of these wrong, then you can edit now so that you've got a complete list in your books or on a piece of paper in front of you.

Let's summarise our learning on our lesson generating knowledge about the Great Fire of London.

The Great Fire of London happened in the past.

The fire started on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

The fire started on Pudding Lane in Thomas Farriner's bakery.

The fire spread quickly due to the houses being made of wood, being close together, and the hot, dry and windy conditions.

The fire lasted for four days before it was stopped.

Excellent learning today.

You are now an expert on the Great Fire of London.

I will see you again very soon.