Remember, remember the 5th of November - who was Guy Fawkes?

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot...

Every British child knows this rhyme. On the evening of 5 November, the sky over the UK explodes with fireworks, and people stand around huge fires eating sweet apples. It's called Bonfire Night - and it all started with a man who wanted to blow up the King. 💥

🕯️ The Gunpowder Plot

London, 1605. A small group of Catholics was angry with King James I, who treated them very badly. Their leader, Robert Catesby, had a crazy idea: they would blow up the Houses of Parliament on the day the King came to open it - and kill him, his ministers and most of the government at once.

The conspirators rented a cellar right under the House of Lords and slowly filled it with 36 barrels of gunpowder - enough to destroy the whole building. Their explosives expert was a soldier called Guy Fawkes.

✉️ The letter that changed everything

Ten days before the big day, a lord called Monteagle got a mysterious letter with no name. It told him to stay away from Parliament, because it would receive "a terrible blow". Monteagle showed the letter to the King's men.

Around midnight on 4 November, guards searched the cellars - and found Guy Fawkes standing next to the barrels, with matches in his pocket. He was caught red-handed. At first he said his name was John Johnson. It didn't help. He was tortured, the other conspirators were hunted down, and they were all sentenced to death for treason.

Fun fact: even today, before the King opens Parliament, his guards in red uniforms search the cellars with lanterns. Just in case. 😄

🔥 Bonfires, guys and toffee apples

Londoners were so happy the King was alive that they lit fires all over the city. Soon it became a tradition. Today on Bonfire Night (also called Guy Fawkes Night) people:

• build a big bonfire and burn a "guy" - a doll of Guy Fawkes made of old clothes and newspapers (a doll like this is called an effigy),
• set off fireworks and write their names in the air with sparklers,
• eat toffee apples, jacket potatoes and parkin - a sticky ginger cake from the north of England.

In the past, children walked around with their homemade guys and asked: "A penny for the guy?" - a bit like Halloween, but with a doll instead of a costume.

🎭 One more surprise: "guys"

Every time you say "Hi guys!", you're actually talking about Guy Fawkes! In the 1800s, a guy meant a strangely dressed person who looked like the doll on the bonfire. Then Americans started using it for any man, and now you guys means simply "you all" - women included.

And the famous smiling mask from the film V for Vendetta, later used by protesters around the world? It's Guy Fawkes' face too. Not bad for a man who failed, right?

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Quick quiz

True or false?

1. Guy Fawkes was the leader of the plot.
2. The plotters hid the gunpowder in a cellar under Parliament.
3. An anonymous letter warned a lord to stay away.
4. On Bonfire Night, people burn a doll of the King.
5. The word "guys" comes from Guy Fawkes.

Show answers

1. False - the leader was Robert Catesby. Fawkes guarded the gunpowder.
2. True
3. True
4. False - they burn a doll of Guy Fawkes.
5. True

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Your turn!

Fireworks: love them or hate them? 🎆 And do we have anything like Bonfire Night in Poland? (Sobótka? Sylwester?) Tell us in the comments! 👇