Britain's only classical cathedral is alson the only one concieved and completed by one man in his own lifetime. Christopher Wren was 43 when the foundation stone was laid and he was 79 when the building was completed. For 36 years the Cathedral was his whole life and every detail was made to his exact specification. In it's grandeur and sheer architectural brilliance St Paul's is a towering monument to the genius of the man but the continuation of the work from year to year and it's final triumphant vindication of his original vision demonstarte Wren's other characteristics - his sublety as a diplomat, his skill as a politician and his fierce determination.

Wren was born in 1632 , the son of a dean of Windsor. Even from the start he seemed destined for greatness. At 21 the diarist John Evelyn described him as 'that miracle of youth'.

At 29 he became Professor of Astonomy at Oxford and was a founder-member of the Royal Society, where Sir Isaac Newton claimed he was ' one of the greatest geometers of our time'. Casually in his early thirties, he turned his attention to architecture, when he was commissioned to design the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford. There he discovered the vocation that was to dominate his life.

Inspired by a visit to PAris he submitted plans to rebuild St. Paul's Cathedral, ravaged by Cromwell's soldiers. But only ten days after Charles II had given his plans approval the Great Fire wrecked London. Wren's plans seemed wrecked also but he soon began to realise that he had the chance of a lifetime. He submitted a new plan to rebuild London as a new city with piazzas and avenues to rival even Paris, but he received a less than enthusiastic reception.

In 1668 Wren received word that he had at last been given the clearance to begin work on the new cathedral. The dean told him 'you are absolutely and indispensably necessary to us that we can do nothing, resolve on nothing without you'. The only thing that was lacking was the money and Wren knew that the great work he had in mind was going to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds the equivalent of millions in modern money. In the meantime he was appointed Surveyor of the King's works at £320 a year. In 1670 Parliament gave Wren the means to be able to make a start on the project with a new tax on the coal that came into the city. It only yeilded £5,000 a year but it was a start.

Wren produced a design for a new St Paul's so much to Charles II liking that he commissioned a model to be constructed, 18ft long, at a cost of £600. Two days later Wren was knighted.

The model appalled church officals however with it's classical design and no recognisable chior or nave and no spire. Wren, who as a rule was not open to emotional responses openly wept when told of the Church's decision. He was too wily though to give up just because the church didn't like the design and so he drew up a second set of plans which had a much smaller dome and a spindly steeple, calculated to specifically satisfy the Church. On June 21, 1675 work began on the new cathedral. Wren asked a man to fetch a flat stone to serve as a refernce for all cathedral measurements. The man returned with a broken slab from an old tomb. It was inscribed with the word 'RESURGAM' - 'I shall rise again'.

Wren adapted the plans as he worked so that the second set of plans began to look much like the original grand scheme. When the money ran out he ran as an MP and was elected to parliament. One of his first actions was to treble the coal tax to raise more money for the building work.

On December 5th 1697, the Cathedral was opened with it's first ever Sunday Service. The dome had not been begun but everyone who saw the sketches and plans that Wren had drawn up knewe that London was to be given a crowning glory.

Eventually in April 1708 tarred clothes were put up around the roof of the cathedral 'to cover the workmen in hot and wet weather upon the leading ye roofe of the Dome'.

For the next two years Londoners lived in ignorance of what was being accomplished under the tangled jungle of scaffolding. The first they saw of Wren's visionary building was the huge gold cross gleaming above the building works. When the scaffolding was brought down , the magnificent dome was at least revealed, crowning the skyline of towers and spires and steeples which Wren had created.

The old architect was not strong enouch to lay the last stone of the building and so his son Christopher did it for him. At the end of 1711, parliament at last declared the work on St Paul's Cathedral finished. Wren's life work was done. He retired to his fiverside house near the great palace he had been rebuilding for William of Orange at Hampton Court.

On February 25th 1723 a frail man was helped up the steps of the cathedral by his coachman. Few people realised that this 91 year old was Sir Christopher Wren paying a visit to his supreme achievement. For a long time he sat under the dome and watched the early Spring sunlight play off the stonework. Then he turned and hobbled slowly away.

It was his last visit, that afternoon he died peacefully and a few days later he was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. The latin inscription carved onto his black marble tomb expressed by his own confidence: 'Lector, monumentum requiris, circumspice' - 'Reader, you seek my memorial, look around you'.