Bonfire Night, Lewes, Sussex

Somone throws fireworks into a fire barrel November 5th 2005 was the 400th anniversary of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot - when Catholic extremist had a go at blowing up Westminster (now part of London, in England) in an attempt to kill James I, but were thwarted before the big bang. Strange as it may seem, the denizens of Albion celebrate this non-event. As a baptised but (col)lapsed catholic, and an Irishmen too, I felt it my duty to partake in the madness, and find out what all thisfine anti-popery was about. It was with a charabanc full of intrepid bonfire hunters that I arrived in Lewes, Sussex, where traditional 'celebrations' are held to commemorate both the Gunpowder plot and 17 Protestant martyrs who were burnt at the stake in the town during the Marian persecutions of 1555-1557. Every year the town goes mad - tar barrel racing, and...