Life before Electric

Just been watching the programme on Pompeii, on BBC2. And just at the end Mary Beard showed us an example of the type of oil lamp that the people in a cellar, sheltering from the volcano's effects, would have used. And it's made me think.

Obviously, it didn't do those poor souls any good. But in general, for most of the history of the human race, light has been a limited thing once the sun has gone down. Our ancestors resorted to oil lamps, candles, rushlights.

The past must have been so romantic, mustn't it? Nobody could ever have got too stressy, because the minute evening fell they'd light a candle and relax. Makes you wonder why all those wars broke out, really.