5th November: a brief(ish) history.
He was a Catholic in 1605, which was a pretty shitty time to be Catholic.
This is Elizabeth I (one of the first HBICs):
She wasnât big on Catholicism (it generally meant treason, which generally meant death). When she died in 1603 the Catholics thought everything would be rosy with James I on the throne:
They were wrong. He wasnât big on Catholicism either.
(This was a good era for hats. Or bad, depending on your fashion preferences.)
He was a Catholic and he wasnât taking any more of this shit.
He knew that Guy was an expert with military stuff, so he got him involved with his âgunpowder plotâ.
This is the gunpowder crew (or some of them):
So they spent 18 months planning and, on 4th November 1605, Guy found himself sat in a cellar under the House of Lords, with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
He was ready to light the fuse the next day, when the King would be there opening the Parliament.
At midnight he was found (so close, yet so far) and ended up on this:
Then after some nice, friendly torture, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
He was quite lucky (I would like to point out that I am using the British form of quite, as in âfairlyâ, not the American, as in âveryâ), he jumped from the gallows so broke his neck before the drawing and quartering happened.
Gory details for those of you who want to know (you all love gory details, donât lie):
Normally the person would be cut down, whilst still alive, and have their testicles chopped off and their guts pulled out, right before their eyes. Then theyâd get cut into quarters and sent to each corner of the kingdom, as a warning for the criminally-minded.
So that is why, in the UK, we burn this:
And then have big celebrations like this:
To celebrate that the King didnât get blown up in 1605.
And also because we like eating hot dogs and toffee, plus we enjoy the general peril of the November weather potentially hindering our standing-outside-in-the-cold-whilst-admiring-fireworks fun. Itâs how we get our kicks.
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plotâŚ
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