The Diary of Samuel Pepys is one of the most entertaining documents in English history. Written between 1660 and 1669, as Pepys was establishing himself as a key administrator in the Navy Office, it is an intimate portrait of life in 17th-century England, covering his professional and personal activities, including, famously, his love of music, theatre, food, and wine and his peccadilloes.

This Naxos AudioBooks production is the world-premiere recording of the diary in its entirety. It has been divided into three volumes. Volume III presents the last three years of Pepys' diary. By then he was in his mid-30s and confident in his ability to deal with differing political factions within the Navy Office; his affection for his wife, Elizabeth, grew ever stronger despite wandering eyes, and he found he was worth 6,000 and more - a considerable sum for the son of a tailor, who started with nothing. His concerns with his eyes grew, and it was with some regret that he stopped writing his diary at the end of May 1669.

Leighton Push reads from the Robert Latham and William Matthews' text; prefaces are written and read by David Timson.