Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night! You know, the chap who tried but failed to blow up Houses of Parliament in London on 5th of November in 1605.

Guy Fawkes fought on the side of the Catholics who were suppressed even under the current King James I, despite him having a Catholic mother. However, the planned Gunpowder Plot came to the ears of the government and Guy got caught in the cellar of the House of Lords sitting on the explosives.

Until today the Bonfire night serves to commemorate his failure to destroy the Houses of Parliament and thus to a degree also the victory of the Protestants over the Catholics.

Some people, though, think it might also be commemorating Guy’s courage to try to get rid of the current government… That’s by the way also the story I learnt first when I came to England.

Anyway, I’d say the fireworks on Guy Fawkes day all over England are actually bigger and more important than the fireworks at New Years. At least that’s what I experienced, having my roots in Germany where the biggest fireworks take place to welcome the New Year.

This is what I used to be able to watch when still living in London. We lived around the corner of Alexandra Palace in North London. On some days you have a view from Ally Pally all the way down to the City of London, you can even make out the London Eye and St. Paul’s Cathedral….