Pepys started his famous diary on 1 January 1660 in time to recount the Restoration – he sailed back to England with the king – with an irrepressible joie de vivre that at least partly derived from his survival of a lithotomy procedure or ‘cutting for the stone’. He celebrated the date annually with a feast for the rest of his life. The Cromwellians who delivered the army and navy, Monck and Montagu, were made duke of Albermarle and earl of Sandwich, becoming two of the king’s top courtiers: young Pepys rose with them. The king appointed him clerk of the acts at the Navy Board.
