The English admiral Robert Blake introduces a system of signalling at sea by means of flags

John Bunyan joins a Nonconformist church in Bedford and becomes one of their preachers

Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler

George Fox begins preaching in England, in a movement which develops into the Society of Friends - or Quakers

Jews return to England after Cromwell repeals the law of 1290 forbidding their residence in the country

Pitcarne dies in 1640 and York House is eventually sold by his family to the Earl of Manchester.

Andrew Marvell works as assistant Latin secretary to Milton in Cromwell's department for foreign affairs

Samuel Pepys has a two-ounce stone cut from his bladder, in an operation carried out at home in the presence of his family

Cromwell dies after naming his son Richard to succeed him in the office of Lord Protector

Prince Rupert of the Rhine pioneers mezzotint, the first half-tone technique in printing

General George Monck marches south from Scotland to London, to intervene in England's unresolved political crisis

On the first day of the new year Samuel Pepys gets up late, eats the remains of the turkey and begins his diary

Monck, reaching London, dissolves the Long Parliament and convenes a new one

Charles II lands at Dover and is given a warm welcome in London four days later

John Bunyan is convicted of unlicensed preaching and spends the next eleven years in Bedford Gaol

The body of Oliver Cromwell is hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn

York House is bought by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor to Charles II.

The Cavalier Parliament begins to pass a series of acts, known as the Clarendon Code, containing punitive measures against Presbyterians

The Long Water at Hampton Court (3800 ft long), supplied by the Longford River, is constructed flanked by avenues of Dutch limes aligned on the Quen's Drawing Room and a semi-circular canal at the East Front

British chemist Robert Boyle defines the inverse relationship between pressure and volume in any gas (subsequently known as Boyle's Law)

The Act of Uniformity demands that Anglican clergy accept all the Thirty-Nine Articles, costing many their livings

An academy of English scientists is given a royal charter by Charles II and becomes the Royal Society

Bushy House is built by Edward Proger, in the royal enclosure now known as Bushy Park, by order of Charles II

The Conventicle Act restricts worship in England to Anglican churches if more than a few people are present

The first recorded attempt at blood transfusion, at the Royal Society in London, proves that the idea is feasible