The technology of explosions to celebrate or mark an occasion of jubilation that we know today as fireworks was a new thing for Shakespeare's lifetime. Shakespeare mentions the word "firework" only twice in his works, once in relation to a fight in Henry VIII and another time in relation to a show or pageant in Love's Labour's Lost. Our guest this week, Simon Werrett is the author of a book on the history and science behind fireworks and he joins us today to share exactly how they worked for Shakepeare's lifetime, which celebrations were held using fireworks, and what the people of 16th century England thought about this wild and exotic light display.

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