1665: London's Last Great Plague - Professor Vanessa Harding

A brilliant lecture that will radical reshape your understanding of the Plague: www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and...
350 years ago, London experienced a devastating outbreak of plague. Some 70,000 people died and the capital's social and economic life was disrupted for months.
The story is seemingly well-known but on closer examination there are still many disputed or puzzling features. Can we be sure that we understand the epidemic any better than those who lived through it?
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and...
Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: gresham.ac.uk/support/

[@alwynwootten2275]

I have my grandmother's 17th century lead serving platter with images from the 1665 London plague. I became interested in parallel behavior then and there and here and now--very interesting lecture. I had not realized that there were those who did not think rats, fleas and the bacterium fit together as a story. As Ronald says below I was left with many questions.

[@Aariyan096]

And now here we are..

[@WildBillCox13]

Well assembled and well presented. Good work, professor. Thanks for posting, Gresham.

[@cecilefox9136]

A fascinating lecture!

[@siroswaldfortitude409]

and once more we are unclean and plague ridden

[@SB-xt5jk]

Sounds like someone was coughing dying of the plague in the audience...

[@themise1416]

Driving me nuts

[@mariekatherine5238]

Well, humans don't change, do they?

[@ronaldderooij1774]

The description of the video is captivating. However the (very entertaining) lecture does not provide any answers or insights into the question if the epidemic is better understood now as then. Sehe merely poses herself to be a "plague sceptic" but she does not elaborate on it at all. So, I am still left with the questions I had before. What caused the plague? Were the bacteria the same as discovered in the 19th century? How did it spread so quickly? Why was it so deadly? What agents caused the quick spreading. Neither of these questions are answered, which is a pity, as I think she has an interesting story to tell.

[@PC-lu3zf]

Plague has returned:(

[@anneliasson2585]

No, just the fear.

[@johnnydtractive]

why go to a lecture like this if you're just going to cough your way thru it. sir.

[@paulanthony5274]

Maybe he has yersinia pestis

[@MV-ix7tl]

I don't feel very well. Sniff sniff..

[@donfarlan214]

This is how socialism got started

[@tanyavandeventer3377]

You are absolutely right! It had nothing to do with a plague just like now where we are heading to communism.