November 5th

On this day – 5 November 1605 – Guy Fawkes failed Gunpowder Plot in London

Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of English Catholics who tried to organise a catholic rebellion in England. The Catholic group gained access to a cellar underneath the British House of Lords, which they planned to blow up on November 5. The group was led by Robert Catesby, but Guy Fawkes was got caught with the explosives on the day before the plan was to be set to life. Someone had sent an anonymous letter to the authorities and Guy Fawkes was caught with enough gunpowder to completely demolish the house of lords on the night to the fifth of November. Fawkes were later, together with 7 other sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartet, a punishment which included being drawn by a horse and cut into four pieces. Today thwarting of the gunpowder Plot is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks all over UK. The Guy Fawkes mask is styled after Guy Fawkes and was modernised when it was used in V for Vandetta from 1982 and later in the movie adaptation from 2006. The mask has now come to represent protest and is used by the hacktivist group Anonymous.

 

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Protesters in Guy Fawkes masks