This is Guy Fawkes.
He took part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
The plot tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament to kill King James I and his government.
The plotters were discovered and captured on November 5th. This led to celebrations known as ‘Bonfire Night’, which still happens nowadays.
Watch: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
It's a pleasant evening.
They seem to be building some sort of stabby, torturey… with lots of sharp…
Oh dear.
I suppose that'll be for me.
Shut it, Fawkes!
The name's Guy Fawkes, friends call me Guido.
I've been put here, in the Tower of London, because I may have been a little bit… naughty.
You see, for a while now, Catholics like me have been treated rather badly simply because our Protestant King doesn't like what we believe.
SHUT IT!
So some friends and I thought if we… offed the King, then things might change.
We knew he'd be in Parliament on November 5, so we plotted to blow him sky high with a load of gun powder.
It was called the Gunpowder Plot.
Bit obvious really. Some of the gang realised that innocent people would be working in Parliament.
They started having second thoughts.
Especially my old friend Francis Tresham, who wrote a warning letter to his cousin Lord Monteagle.
Lord Monteagle then passed the letter to the King's guards.
Well… the plot was blown, no pun intended.
This left old muggins here with the rather embarrassing job of trying to explain what I was doing underneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
Which brings us back here.
Right, come on Fawkes, it’s torture time.
Apparently, as a warning to other potential plotters, they’re going to cut me up and send me to the four corners of the kingdom.
Mother did always say I'd go far.
What did Guy Fawkes do?
- Guy Fawkes was born in York in 1570.
- Some of his school friends were also involved in the Gunpowder Plot.
- He became a Catholic and fought for the Spanish army.
- In November 1605 he and a group of plotters tried to blow up Parliament and King James I. They used 36 barrels of gunpowder.
- Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars with the gunpowder and arrested.
- He was sent to the Tower of London, put on trial and executed.
- Bonfire night is on the 5th November every year. It remembers Guy Fawkes and the failed Gunpowder Plot.
Did you know?
- Guy Fawkes was not the leader of the Gunpowder Plot - that was Robert Catesby. There were 13 people involved.
- He liked being called 'Guido Fawkes'.
- He gave a false name when he was captured - ‘John Johnson.’
- On bonfire night, children sometimes make a ‘guy’ to put on the bonfire. They do this by stuffing old clothes with straw.
Activity – Guy Fawkes quiz
Game: More about Guy Fawkes and other activists!
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