Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
We see no reason,
Why gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot!
In just a few days the English, that tolerant and staid race, will let off fireworks and burn Catholics in effigy to celebrate the miraculous delivery of the House of Parliament and King James I in 1605. In that year, a group of conspirators, including one Guy Fawkes, planned to blow up the above in protest of the continued persecution of Catholics. Or did they? One revisionist theory is that the group were set up by the government to turn the public against Catholics and in favor of the new and unpopular Scottish king (who apparently was also a bit of an old queen).
One of the conspirators, Guy Fawkes, was discovered on November 4 in the vaults of the Houses of Parliament with a large amount of gunpowder, and depending upon whom you read, either the stuff was too old to do any damage or there were many times as much as was needed. Below is a computer simulation of what would have happened if the plan had been successful. See more at telegraph.co.uk.
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For background and real information on the gunpowder plot, visit http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/
Janet