"Remember, Remember, The Fifth Of November!"

In 1605, Guy Fawkes and others conspired in an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. Fawkes was given the job of keeping watch over the barrels of gunpowder in the basement and to light the fuse. On the morning of 5th November, soldiers discovered Guy hidden in the cellar and arrested him. Subsequently, to celebrate the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, bonfires were lit around London, and later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure. We've been celebrating Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, or Fireworks Night (call it what you will) with pyrotechnics and the burning of effigies, ever since.

Guy Fawkes

That said, Guy Fawkes Night celebrations have increasingly taken a back seat compared with other Autumn/Winter celebrations. Now that the Christmas period seems to start in September and Halloween has gained greater prominence, Bonfire Night is a bit of an afterthought; a damp squib if you will. Halloween is now celebrated, or at least marked, with much greater fanfare than it was when I was child. Looking back fifty years (my goodness, where did the time go?) I cannot remember there being much, if anything, made of All Hallows Eve. But for anyone in the UK who laments the increasing prevalence of "Trick or Treat" and believes it to be an import from our former colony across the pond, the tradition of going house-to-house collecting food at Halloween in the UK dates back to the 16th century, as does the practice of wearing costumes at Halloween. It found favour in the USA in the late 1920's and has merely regained popularity here in recent years.

When I was child, Guy Fawkes Night was definitely the bigger occasion. In the weeks leading up to Bonfire Night there were the TV ads, "Light Up The Sky With Standard Fireworks," and then we would go out and buy our box, always Standard, never Brocks or anyone else. I would pore over the contents with anticipation until the night, 5th November, itself. In the risk averse, Health and Safety conscious world we live in today, I very much doubt that the proposed sale of these low grade explosives would be allowed were it not for the fact that they have a long tradition. Firework accidents are blessedly a lot rarer these days, but back in the 1960's when I was growing up, the build up to each Bonfire Night would include dire warnings of the dangers of fireworks,  and sadly most years there seemed to be stories on TV and in the papers in the days following November the Fifth of people, often children, horribly scarred and burned as a result of Bonfire Night mishaps.

Standard Fireworks implore you to "Take Care" while depicting a child with a firework clamped between his legs!

Fortunately in my childhood there were no major accidents on Fireworks Night, although one year a gust of wind did blow a rocket into a neighbour's bathroom window and a Spitfire firework (basically a banger with cardboard wings) once went haywire and had us all diving for cover! There was one year when tragedy might have ensued, however when I proudly showed my Dad my box of fireworks not realising that he had a cigarette in his mouth. Fortunately there was no errant spark, no catastrophic, impromptu, indoor display! There was one occasion however when a flash from a Roman Candle burned a hole in his spectacles; had he not been wearing glasses he could easily have suffered a nasty injury.

Other things that have changed are the growth in organised displays and the complete disappearance of children begging for "A Penny for the Guy." The former are generally a good thing. Rather than stand in the back garden with a box of pyrotechnics costing anywhere from £50 to £150, you can take in a spectacular display organised by a local council or club without the risk to life and limb (having once been chased round the garden by an errant Roman Candle, I appreciate not having to light my own). The increased popularity of organised displays must take some credit for reduced domestic firework related accidents.

The groups of children with their motley collections of Guys, pestering people for funds to buy fireworks have long since demised (in my neighbourhood at least; if you still see any where you live, let me know, I'd be interested), in their place are the Halloween Trick or Treaters. Sadly, I don't think I've seen anyone with a Guy collecting pennies for over twenty years, and I doubt a penny would be good enough now, I reckon a quid would be considered the minimum.

With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, we had a huge number of small children (accompanied by responsible adults, I'm pleased to note) knocking on our door last weekend and they staggered away with huge burdens of candies of various types. We had a few knick-knacks on the house; a couple of ghosts, some skeletons and the like, to show we were Trick or Treat friendly, but some people in our area really pushed the boat out with some fabulous decorations.

Fireworks are increasingly a feature of celebrations not associated with Guy Fawkes. Diwali and New Year's Eve are just two occasions when you can expect to see and hear them and as much as I like watching them, why do so many of them have to be so damned loud? Technically, fireworks can only be set off  between 7am and 11pm, although the law makes exceptions for  Bonfire Night, when the cut off is midnight, New Year’s Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year, when the cut off is 1am, but increasingly that 11pm cut-off seems to be ignored with impromptu displays going off to all hours. It isn't unusual to be woken at all hours by distant (and not so distant) displays.

Although it is Guy Fawkes Night we celebrate on 5th November, and Fawkes was the one discovered with his finger on the trigger as it were, he was not the leader of the conspiracy. That man was Robert Catesby. Somehow it's as well that it is Fawkes who is remembered; Robert Catesby's Night just doesn't have the same ring to it!