Head to squarespace.com/brainfood to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code brainfood. :-) In September of 1808 Covent Garden Theatre in London burned to the ground. The exact cause of the fire has never been established but due to the extensive amount of flammable items throughout combined with an amazing number of flaming light fixtures, fires of some sort at theaters were relatively common, even inspiring a London fire code requiring several wet blankets be kept near the stage to help put out any fire before it could spread- the 18th century version of a fire extinguisher.
Unfortunately, on September 19, 1808, the water on the street the theater was on was shut off to fix an issue with the system. The next morning, a fire started at around 4AM. With little means to effectively fight the blaze, it took just 3 hours to destroy the historic building and, along with more mundane things, a fair number of manuscripts that would today be given the always inaccurate moniker of “priceless”, as well as the late George Frideric Handel’s organ he had donated to the theater. On top of this, over 20 people lost their lives, and many dozens more were injured.
The loss of the theatre was a huge blow to the London community. You see, thanks to the Licensing Act of 1737...
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