Hooke contributed greatly to the rebuilding of the City of London after the Great Fire of London.

UNESCO: 2014 UK Memory of the World Register

Samuel Pepys, the diarist who told the story of the Great Fire of London set up one of the first pension schemes.

BBC: NEWS | Programmes | Working Lunch | Pensions: Past, present and future

How would the BBC have reported events like the Great Fire of London in 1666 or the death of William the Conqueror in 1087?

BBC: 1066 And all that

The same could have been said, though, about Sir Christopher Wren, whose 51 churches, and landmarks like Kensington Palace and Greenwich Naval Hospital, dominated the city after the Great Fire of London.

BBC: Lord Foster: Stormin' Norman

If you think you can rival Samuel Pepys' description of pigeons "hovering about the windows and balconies till they burned their wings and fell down" when recounting the Great Fire of London, then get writing.

BBC: 1066 And all that