Page 46 - Jan2023

Br itish Her itage: About Guy Fawkes

?Remember, remember t he fift h of November, gunpowder, t reason and plot . I see no

reason why gunpowder t reason should ever be forgot .?

Chances are you've seen this mask in the movies and at street protests. The stylized face has become a
universal symbol of protest and rebellion. Did you ever wonder whose face it was or think ,instead, the
mask was just an "arty" way to hide the features of the person wearing it? Prepare to be astonished. The
mask is based on a real person and that real person is Guy Fawkes, one fof the conspirators in the
Gunpowder Plot of 1605, mentioned in Stuart Naylor's Travelogue to England in this issue.

People who talk about Guy Fawkes today, including some historians, frequently make the mistake of
identifying Fawkes as the ringleader behind the plot. His name is the only name that people remember
when they think the event. In actuality, Fawkes was not the ringleader; he became the figurehead
because he was the first of the conspirators to be caught, hiding as he was in the cellars of the Palace of
Westminster, with 35 or 36 barrels of poorly concealed gunpowder, a dark lantern, and matches and
fuses, discovered and arrested by the Yeoman of the Guard, acting on a tip from an anonymous letter
that had been sent to King James I in October.
Who was Guy Fawkes and What was t he Gunpowder Plot ?

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