50 Fun Facts About Bonfire Night

In the Harry Potter books, which wizard owns Fawkes, a phoenix named after the Gunpowder Plotter?

Albus Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes takes his name from the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, and his tail feathers sit inside both Harry's and Voldemort's wands.

Which royal bodyguard, founded by Henry VII, still searches the cellars beneath Parliament before every State Opening?

The Yeomen of the Guard have searched the cellars since the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, now largely for ceremony, and share the nickname Beefeaters with the Yeoman Warders while still wearing Tudor red and gold.

Until what time does UK law allow fireworks to be set off on Bonfire Night, later than on an ordinary night?

Midnight is the Bonfire Night exception; New Year's Eve and Diwali get 1am, and on every other night of the year fireworks must stop at 11pm.

Which Oxford museum, Britain's first public museum, holds the lantern Guy Fawkes carried the night he was caught?

The Ashmolean Museum, opened in 1683 around Elias Ashmole's cabinet of curiosities, keeps Fawkes's lantern among treasures such as the Anglo-Saxon Alfred Jewel.

Which Game of Thrones actor played his own ancestor, plot ringleader Robert Catesby, in the BBC drama Gunpowder?

Kit Harington was christened Christopher Catesby Harington, and he developed and produced the 2017 series as well as starring in it.

Which hacktivist collective, known for its 2008 Scientology protests, adopted the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta?

Anonymous wore the mask at its Project Chanology pickets of the Church of Scientology, and it spread to the Occupy movement, so the design is now often simply called the Anonymous mask.

What cry did British children use when begging money from strangers with a homemade effigy ahead of 5 November?

'Penny for the guy' dates from the late 18th century, when children first began begging with effigies of Fawkes, and the custom has now almost completely disappeared from British streets.

Northern Ireland's loyalist bonfires are lit on the eve of which date, marking William of Orange's defeat of James II?

12 July, the Twelfth, is the big Ulster Protestant day, so the Eleventh Night bonfires the evening before are Northern Ireland's own bonfire night, nothing to do with Guy Fawkes.

From which Middle English phrase, describing what villagers burned on Saint John's Eve, does the word 'bonfire' come?

A 'bone fire' was literally a fire of clean bones and no wood, and the great 1755 Dictionary of the English Language got it wrong by deriving 'bon' from the French for good.

Sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, how did Guy Fawkes escape the worst of his execution?

His neck broke on the scaffold as he was hanged, some sources saying he jumped deliberately, so he was dead before the drawing and quartering his fellow plotters endured alive.

In which northern English city, home of St Peter's School, was Guy Fawkes born to a Protestant family?

York's St Peter's School also taught John and Christopher Wright, two brothers who went on to join Fawkes in the plot, and Fawkes himself was baptised in the Church of England before converting to Catholicism.

Under what alias, posing as a servant of conspirator Thomas Percy, was Guy Fawkes arrested beneath the House of Lords?

John Johnson was the name Fawkes gave his interrogators too, and James I's torture warrant of 6 November ordered that 'John Johnson' be made to reveal his co-conspirators.

What Italian form of his name did Guy Fawkes adopt while fighting for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years' War?

Guido is how Fawkes styled himself on a 1603 trip to Spain seeking backing for a Catholic rebellion, in a memorandum that called the new king James I 'a heretic'.

Which Catholic peer's unsigned warning letter, telling him to skip Parliament's opening, exposed the Gunpowder Plot?

Lord Monteagle took the letter straight to Whitehall and was rewarded with £500 plus £200 worth of lands, being hailed as the country's saviour.

Which nine-year-old child of James I did the plotters plan to seize from Coombe Abbey and crown as a Catholic puppet?

Elizabeth grew up to be the 'Winter Queen' of Bohemia, and when the Stuart line ran out in 1714 the British crown passed to her grandson George I, founding the House of Hanover.

Why was the State Opening of Parliament that the plotters targeted pushed back from February to November 1605?

An outbreak of plague twice delayed Parliament, which gave the plotters time to find their gunpowder had decayed and to bring in a fresh supply hidden under firewood.

How did Guy Fawkes plan to get away after lighting the fuse, before sailing for the continent?

By boat across the Thames was the plan, while the other conspirators raised a revolt in the Midlands, and the gunpowder had itself been rowed over from a house in Lambeth each night.

Where was Guy Fawkes tortured after James I ordered 'the gentler tortures' first, under Lieutenant Sir William Waad?

The Tower of London got his confession within days: James's warrant allowed manacles first and the rack if needed, and Fawkes admitted wanting to destroy the House of Lords.

Where were Guy Fawkes and three fellow plotters executed, directly opposite the building they had tried to destroy?

Old Palace Yard at Westminster saw Fawkes dragged in on a wattled hurdle with Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood and Robert Keyes on 31 January 1606, a day after four other plotters died at St Paul's.

Which Secretary of State, by then Earl of Salisbury, was handed the warning letter while James I was away hunting?

Robert Cecil sat on the letter for days, quietly telling two earls with Catholic sympathies but keeping the King in the dark until he returned from the hunt on 1 November.

Which phrase in the warning letter did James I seize on as a hint at 'fire and powder' against Parliament?

'A terrible blow this Parliament' was the letter's warning, and James read 'blow' as an explosion like the one that had killed his own father, Lord Darnley, at Kirk o' Field.

Where in Staffordshire were Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy shot dead by the Sheriff of Worcestershire's men?

Holbeche House was where the rain-soaked fugitives spread their gunpowder before the fire to dry it; it caught, scorching Catesby and blinding John Grant before the siege even began.

What was done to the bodies of Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy, who had died fighting rather than face trial?

Exhumed and beheaded after burial, the two ringleaders had their heads set on spikes outside the House of Lords, the building they had meant to destroy.

Which plotter, knighted by James I at Belvoir Castle, was the only conspirator to plead guilty at the trial?

Everard Digby's job was to lead a 'hunting party' of armed horsemen at Dunchurch, ready to seize the princess once the explosion came, and he was executed on 30 January 1606.

Which Jesuit superior in England, who learned of the plot under the seal of confession, was executed in May 1606?

Henry Garnet answered the threat of the rack with 'Minare ista pueris', threats are for boys, and his jailers eavesdropped on his cell conversations and intercepted his secret letters to trap him.

Which courtier, made a baron in 1607, led the early-hours search of the cellars that caught Guy Fawkes on 5 November?

Thomas Knyvet searched with Edmund Doubleday on the King's orders and seized Fawkes as he left the cellar; a search of his pockets turned up a watch, slow matches and touchwood.

Which conspirator, long suspected of writing the warning letter to his brother-in-law, died in custody before the trial?

Francis Tresham died of natural causes on 23 December 1605, and his deathbed confession never mentioned the letter, an odd omission if he really was its author.

At which inn off the Strand did the five original plotters swear an oath of secrecy on a prayer book?

The Duck and Drake was Thomas Wintour's usual lodging in town, and Catesby had already floated killing the king to Wintour and John Wright at an earlier meeting.

In which year was the 1605 Act compelling annual church thanksgiving for the Gunpowder Plot's failure finally repealed?

1859's Anniversary Days Observance Act ended a law that had required everyone to attend a 5 November service at which the Act itself was read aloud.

Which word completes the traditional rhyme 'Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder ___ and plot'?

Treason completes the line, and the earliest recorded version of the rhyme dates from 1742, with most later versions opening on the same couplet.

Which Canadian province, the last to join Confederation in 1949, is where Bonfire Night on 5 November still survives?

Newfoundland was a separate British dominion until 1949, which is why the 5 November bonfires exported by settlers outlived the custom in the rest of Canada.

What was the 5 November festival called in colonial Boston, where rival gangs brawled over papal effigies?

Pope Night was banned for his troops by George Washington in 1775, who did not want to offend the Canadian and French Catholic allies he was courting.

In which Devon town do residents mark 5 November by running through the streets carrying flaming tar barrels?

Ottery St Mary's barrel run is one of the few older customs to survive, while Lewes in Sussex has staged England's most extravagant 5 November celebrations since 1679.

How many flaming crosses does Lewes carry on 5 November, one for each Protestant martyr burned there under Mary I?

17 Lewes martyrs died at the stake in the Marian persecutions, and the town's seven bonfire societies also race flaming tar barrels along Cliffe High Street before the processions.

Which Beatle ended his 1970 song 'Remember' with 'the fifth of November' and an explosion?

John Lennon recorded the song on 9 October 1970, his 30th birthday, during his primal therapy period with Arthur Janov, and cut the track short to add the closing blast.

Which Shakespeare tragedy has a drunken porter welcome an 'equivocator' to hell, a jibe at the Gunpowder Plot trials?

Macbeth was written the year after the plot, and the porter's equivocator who 'could not equivocate to heaven' echoes jokes made about the Jesuit superior's defence at his 1606 trial.

Which sticky oatmeal gingerbread, baked hard then left to soften for days, is northern England's Bonfire Night cake?

Parkin's first dated mention is a 1728 court record from the West Riding, where Anne Whittaker was accused of stealing oatmeal to make it.

Bonfire toffee, known in Scotland as claggum, tastes overwhelmingly of which sweetener, bitter in cheap versions?

Black treacle, or molasses, was once considered medicinal and priced accordingly, which kept toffee a luxury long after treacle arrived in Britain in the 1660s.

Which spinning firework, a powder-filled spiral tube on a pin, is named after a martyred saint of Alexandria?

The Catherine wheel recalls Saint Catherine of Alexandria, who by Christian tradition was condemned to death by 'breaking on the wheel', and Americans call it a pinwheel.

Which ingredient makes up about three-quarters of classic gunpowder by weight, alongside charcoal and sulfur?

Saltpetre, or potassium nitrate, is 75% of the ideal recipe with 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur, and quarry blasting powder cuts it to 70% using cheaper sodium nitrate.

Which actor, never seen without the mask, took over as V in the film V for Vendetta six weeks into shooting?

Hugo Weaving replaced James Purefoy, who left uncredited, and redubbed the scenes Purefoy had already shot, having worked with the Wachowskis on The Matrix films.

Which writer created V for Vendetta in comics but refused a screen credit or royalties and never watched the result?

Alan Moore had hated the film versions of From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and his name is absent from the closing credits at his own request.

Which actress plays Evey Hammond in V for Vendetta, having her head shaved on camera for the torture scene?

Natalie Portman saw the shaving as a chance to shed vanity, and in 2006 she guest-lectured on the film for a Columbia University course on terrorism.

Which artist drew V for Vendetta and designed its grinning Guy Fawkes mask, now a global protest symbol?

David Lloyd suggested drawing V as a resurrected Guy Fawkes in a papier-mâché mask, cape and conical hat, and his smiling design went on to front protests worldwide.

What is the fascist party ruling Britain in the V for Vendetta film, led by Adam Sutler?

Norsefire's leader is Adam Susan in the comic and Adam Sutler in the film, and the party also turns up ruling Britain in the 2019 television series Pennyworth.

Which orchestral piece's finale is played at the key moments that open and close the V for Vendetta film?

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, cannon and all, also closes the soundtrack's track 'Knives and Bullets (and Cannons too)', among songs V 'reclaimed' from the Ministry of Objectionable Materials.

Which Australian assistant director on The Matrix trilogy made his directorial debut with V for Vendetta?

James McTeigue has since worked with the Wachowskis four more times, directing Ninja Assassin and Sense8 and producing The Matrix Resurrections.

In which British anthology comic did V for Vendetta first run in black and white from 1982 until it folded in 1985?

Warrior's collapse left the story unfinished for years, until DC Comics completed it in colour as a ten-issue series in 1988–89.

Which Somerset town opens the county's Guy Fawkes carnival circuit with a parade that ends in mass 'squibbing'?

Bridgwater's carnival has roots going back to 1605, and squibbing sees a hundred 'squibbers' hold fireworks aloft on long wooden handles called coshes along the High Street.

What do northern English children call 4 November, their traditional evening for pranks on the eve of Guy Fawkes Day?

Mischief Night goes by 'Miggy Night', 'Tick-Tack Night' and 'Corn Night' in some northern areas, where some 13-year-olds treat it as a coming-of-age rite.