12 Historical "Facts" That Simply Aren't True

8. The Great Fire Of London Did Not End The Spread Of The Plague... Their Timings Were Merely Coincidental

Another fire-based "fact" from history that isn't true - the Great Fire of London did not end the Great Plague in Britain's capital, the timing of both so close to one another was merely coincidental. The end of the Great Plague epidemic of 1665 - when the bubonic plague killed a sixth of London's inhabitants, some 80,000 people - has often been attributed to the outbreak of the Great Fire of London in September 1666, yet the two were not interlinked.

Supposedly the fire burned down the unsanitary housing that sheltered the rats and disease-carrying fleas, preventing the plague from returning - but there is little to no evidence to suggest this is true.

For a start, the fire was restricted largely to the centre of London, meaning that the slum suburbs on the outskirts could not have been cleansed by the flames. London was struck down with these two catastrophic events in the space of a year - but it does not appear as if either was connected to the other.