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Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot! In 1605, a man by the name of Guy (or Guido) Fawkes was discovered guarding a cache of gunpowder in an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, at the Palace of Westminster, in London. Fawkes was part of a conspiracy of Catholics who wanted to assassinate the king (James I of England and IV of Scotland), who was a Protestant, and replace him with a Catholic head of state. Fawkes, and the other conspirators, were sentenced to death. Parliament passed a motion allowing the public to celebrate the king's survival with bonfires, with the first annual observance of this taking place in 1605, and starting an annual tradition that has survived for over 400 years. Traditions include setting off fireworks, lighting bonfires, and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes (leading some to believe he was burned at the stake; in actual fact he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn & quartered, but died of a broken neck during the
