On Thursday 11th February, Upper Sixth girls studying A level English had a welcome break from the classroom to go to the exhibition, ‘Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire and Revolution’ at the National Maritime Museum.

It was a beautiful day so we all enjoyed stunning views from the DLR – an adventure in itself – and of Greenwich in the sunshine. The exhibition was fascinating: it included gloves worn by Charles I, portraits of Charles II and his array of mistresses, records of deaths from the Great Plague and a montage of the Fire of London. This was valuable context for the girls’ study of ‘Paradise Lost’, enabling them to better understand Milton’s Republican sympathies and his loathing of the decadence of the Caroline court.