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13th Nov 2019

Lewes Bonfire: Britain’s most dangerous Guy Fawkes celebration

JOE

This looks fucking wild

On November 5 every year the British people celebrate the failure of a man who attempted to blow up the House of Lords more than 400 years ago. That man was Guy Fawkes and he was a part of the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James I.

To celebrate the king’s survival, people of London lit bonfires, a practice which quickly spread across the country and was celebrated annually on a day that became known as Gunpowder Treason Day.

Thankfully, it’s now known as Bonfire Night and things are a little less focused on treason and more on having a wonderful time. We traveled to the town of Lewes, where they have perhaps the best Bonfire Night in Britain, and where they burn effigies of the Pope because why the hell not?