My New Favorite Joke

In 1703 the worse storm to ever hit England destroyed most of the country. It was called the Great Storm and pretty much destroyed all of London, Bristol, Cambridge, etc. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop Richard Kidder, who was a very religious man, claims to have predicted the storm based off of God's hatred and wrath against sin.

It wasn't THAT bad of a storm though, it was only as strong as a category 2 hurricane, but it was extremely destructive and deadly because England's infrastructure was built around calm winds and light weather. Most of the buildings were built out of wood and straw with thin roofs, and were easily blown away by the wind and floods. The only structures built out of stone were typically chimneys, and they were poorly mortared so they toppled easily in the storm and crashed into the houses below, killing anyone taking trying to take shelter. 

Approximately 2,000 chimneys toppled, killing thousands of bystanders. Ironically, Bishop Richard Kidder was killed by a falling chimney. This was such a concern, that The Queen feared for her life and was rushed away to the basement of the Royal Palace, far away from any chimneys. 

Despite several chimneys falling in the palace, the queen made it to the basement and ultimately survived, probably because a queen can move in all directions while a bishop can only move diagonally.