On 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes and his buddies planned to blow up Parliament in London, in an attempt to kill the King. They were unsuccessful.

“Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…” 

Happy Bonfire Night

In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain’s most notorious traitor.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King.

Since that time, Britons commemorate this failure on 5th November, by burning guy fawkes effigies on bonfires across the country (commonly accompanied by firework displays).

V for Vendetta

The comic character V from ‘V for Vendetta’, dresses in a Guy Fawkes mask. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the United Kingdom in the 1990s, preceded by a nuclear war in the 1980s, which has left much of the world destroyed.

“Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honor to meet you and you may call me “V”.”

– Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

In other Words

The British will be doing some ritualistic burning today, and it will be the most polluted night of the year! (Highest PSI reading 200ug/m3 for PM10)

Smoke produced by bonfires contains minute particles. One of the major sources of these particles is the combustion of fuels containing carbon. These particles can cause health problems when they are below 10 microns in size and are referred to as the PM10 fraction. For most people this is unlikely to have any short term effects, but some people, particularly those with asthma or other respiratory diseases, may find their symptoms worsen. Read more