Today: Novermber 5th, 2011The world will always remember the 5th of November due to the movie V for Vendetta, but what is this November 5th thing, and who is Guy Fawkes? Basically, the Fifth of November is a British holiday to remember the day that a group of radical Catholics failed to blow up British Parliament. At the time, James I of Britain was king, and he was a protestant. In fact, Britain as a whole was becoming much more protestant, embracing Henry VIII's Anglican Church. Many Catholics were afraid of this, and some were willing to fight to keep Catholicism. A plot was conceived by a group of these Catholics, led by Robert Catesby. The group had many people they didn't like, so blowing everybody up at once was the most efficient way of dealing with all of them. The idea was to blow up Parliament during the State Opening, where King James the I, some of his relatives, members of the Privy Council, bishops of the Church of England, most of the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. These groups were becoming very Protestant and the Catholic group wanted these people blown up. The date was set for November 5th, 1605, and Guy Fawkes, a Catholic who fought to suppress the Dutch revolt, was chosen to light the powder. Unfortunately, through a couple of letters, the King discovered the plot, and was tortured until he revealed the names of the other conspirators. The day has been celebrate with fireworks ever since.
