Saturday, November 05, 2005

Guy Fawkes: gunpowder, treason and plot

I hope our kitty friends in the UK and certain parts of the world do not get too frightened by the firecrackers and fireworks tonight (being Guy Fawkes Night).

Guy Fawkes Night celebrates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot on the evening of 5 November 1605 (exactly 400 years ago) when a group of radical Catholics (including Guy Fawkes) tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London by detonating 36 barrels of gunpowder underneath, when Protestant King James I (also James VI of Scotland) and the Queen were attending the opening of Parliament.

They had their reasons as it was illegal to practise Catholicism and had been repressed for 50 years. Following the assassination of King James and his government, they hoped to re-establish England as a Catholic state.

Australia used to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night until sometime in the 1970s when the government decided that it was not really relevant to our history.

The Gunpowder Plot: Parliament and Treason 1605 from British Parliament
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot from BBC (2004) - this is an excellent docu-drama if you get the chance to watch it (perhaps on PBS)

*As always, please check out Cooper and Camilla who always have interesting things to say.

........ooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo........

I thought I would have more laptime today, but my human left me for most of the afternoon, so I spent most of the day on my daybed napping. I hope tomorrow is a better day.

keisercat@wildmail.com

1 Comments:

Blogger Keiser said...

Just wait until your first Xmas trying to eat turkey in scorching heat. Tell your humans to avoid Bondi, they do not need to join the British backpacker riff raff.

Sunday, 06 November, 2005  

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