Sex scandals, terrorism, wild weather...here's the news from 1680

Such were the issues of the day - 320 years ago.

A diary discovered in a London research library has provided a fascinating insight into life in the late-17th century.

And while the cast of characters - and the language used to describe them - has changed, it shows that the topics in the news were remarkably similar to today.

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Bear-baiting, staged on the frozen Thames in the winter of 1683-1684

Such is the detail in the 1,500-page memoir by Roger Morrice, it has been compared to the diaries of Samuel Pepys, who wrote at around the same time.

Historians at Cambridge University revealed extracts from the diary yesterday after spending seven years cracking the shorthand code in which much of it was written.

One entry by Morrice, a Puritan priest who became a political reporter after being persecuted under Charles II, describes the arrest of suspected plotters against the King in October 1684.

In a scene bearing striking similarities to the alleged treatment of modern-day terrorist suspects, soldiers were ordered to keep one victim "from sleeping, which they did without intermission for nine or ten days".

Writing of the winter of 1683-4, when the Thames froze over, Morrice writes: "Whole street on the Thames and booths set up.

"There were several bear-baitings and a whole ox was roasted. The king came to eat some of it." There is also the London sheriff's decision on hangman Jack Ketch's expenses claim for "quartering of traitors, boiling their bodies".

"The sheriff thought it was very exorbitant and refused to pay it," he records.

The un-Christian behaviour of one of the country's most senior clergymen is exposed in the line: "The Bishop of London has lain in a bawdy house."

Another passage from October 1686 describes the persecution of Puritans.

"The [Army] Captain drank the King's health to a Quaker; the Quaker answered I thirst not; the Captain said if thou drinkest not my Master's health, I will Cuckold thy wife before thy eyes."

Other passages report on the unforgiving nature of 17th century justice.

Morrice, who lived between 1628 and 1702, studied at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, before becoming vicar of Duffield in Derbyshire at the age of 30.

However, he was expelled from his parish in 1662 for being a nonconformist under the Restoration government of Charles II.

Morrice moved to London where he began gathering information from the gossip-filled coffee houses of the day. The book, which covers the years 1677 to 1691, includes the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William and Mary.

It effectively gathered dust until 2000 when the group of Cambridge historians began poring over it.

Its secrets were unlocked with the help of a specialist brought in to decode 40,000 words written in a form of shorthand.

Dr Mark Goldie, who led the research team, said: "It is a huge source of material that will play a very significant role in helping historians and students understand the period."

Frances Henderson, who deciphered Morrice's shorthand, said: "He clearly found it important to conceal his sources and developed a very effective shorthand code."

Samuel Pepys, a naval administrator and MP who lived from 1633 to 1703, kept a detailed diary between 1660 and 1669.

It was published in the 19th century and is one of the most important historical sources for the Restoration and events including the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London the following year.

FROM MORRICE'S PEN...

Feb 27th, 1680: Noblemen fighting duels over trivial matters. "Duell betwixt Mr Oglethorp and Mr Poultney on the one side and Mr Henry Wharton and Mr Warcup on the other, because one of them trod upon the toes of another in the Playhouse and did not cry him Mercy."

January 1687: Prosecution of bisexual John Hoyle. "Mr Hoyle confessed some indecent familiarityes with the Boy. Some say enough to hang him. "Mr Hoyle is committed to prison in Newgate."

Feb 1687: Popular music. "An Italian eunuch is brought over hither and has sung several times at Whitehall Palace. "It's said His Majesty would give him £1,200 if he would continue here but he is utterly unwilling. "He is reported to sing better than any man that this century has produced."

Samuel Pepys' diary is valued for its famous account of the Great Fire of London