Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

“Remember, remember the fifth of November/Gunpowder, treason and plot/We see no reason/Why Gunpowder treason/Should ever be forgot.”

What is the big deal about Guy Fawkes?

By special request I am making mention of Guy Hawkes Day, although I've always found it curious that a man angry with his government and king, so angry, that he tries to blow them all up, with gunpowder, is remembered, and, has a day dedicated to him. Can you imagine Timothy McVeigh or the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski with a day dedicated to them?

Perhaps this is an apple and oranges comparison, and perhaps I don't really understand all the nuances of Bonny Day or Cracker Day, because I'm Amerhikan, and perhaps it's just a way to throw in another excuse to get out to the pubs and grouse or bloody feel like you are sticking it to the establishment, but I really just don't get what all the fuss is about. Guy Hawkes was a minor player in the plot, he just had the distinction of being the first of the conspirators to get caught. He was hanged, drawn and quartered, then beheaded as memorialized in Braveheart's death scene. Guy Hawkes is no William Wallace.

Bonfires and fireworks, I get. Guy Fawkes Day as inspiration for V for Vendetta reimagined as a kind of Batman uber hero, I do not. George Washington condemned soldiers that celebrated the day.

In any case, here's a list of events, big and small, you can remember or celebrate today. Bottoms up!

2010 Guy Fawkes Day Celebration As you all know, today is November 5th which means that it’s Guy Fawkes Night or as some people prefer to call it, Bonfire Night. Although in Britain it’s a day of celebration where many build bonfires and have firework displays, we also have to remember the history behind Guy Fawkes.According to an article over at indyposted.com by Dan Evon (sourced from Britannica.com), Guy Fawkes Day actually commemorates the failure of the Gunpowder plot back in 1605, when Roman Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up parliament in London. The Gunpowder Plot came about because the conspirators felt that King James I had not actually given Roman Catholics enough religious freedom. Even though Guy Fawkes only played a minor part in the Gunpowder plot, his name will always be remembered as he was the first to be captured. Many of you will already know the little rhyme about Guy Fawkes Day but for those of you who don’t, it goes: “Remember, remember the fifth of November/Gunpowder, treason and plot/We see no reason/Why Gunpowder treason/Should ever be forgot.”
2010 Fifteen foot tiger shark reported off the beach of Hawaii's Hilton beach resort, thus terrorizing and ruining selachophobic sister's first day of vacation.
2009 United States Tribal Nations Conference The White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior will have opening and closing remarks from the President, and discussions on everything from the jobs market to energy, housing and health care. His participation in the conference is said to be part of his outreach to the American people, and will be attended by the leaders of the 564 federally recognized tribes. These will have the opportunity to interact directly with the President and his Administration. The tribes have been invited to send one representative to the conference. This is the first annual White House Tribal Nations Conference.
2007 Writers Guild of American goes on strike
2006 Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging by an Iraqi court
2000 O.J. Simpson , a man charged of killing his wife and daughter tried to sue his former lawyer for breach of contract. However, this could not be proven, so the charge was dismissed by the judge. Simpson had faced legal trouble for a number of years regarding the murders he had allegedly committed.
1997 2 hours after Davey Johnson resigns, he is named AL Manager of Year
1997 French court orders producer Jacques Charrier, ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, to pay the former screen star $8,300 in damages
1996 1996 Egypt Alexandria Divers have discovered the ancient port of Alexandria from 2000 years ago which was swallowed by the sea and contains the ruins of Cleopatras Palace and Mark Anthony's home and temple when the Roman warrior was in Egypt. Divers have found thousands of artifacts dating back to 323BC to 30BC and many of the original columns are still standing and in remarkable condition.
1995 STS-73 (Columbia 18), lands
1995 Woo-Soon Ko wins LPGA Toray Japan Queens Cup Golf Tournament
1995 1st NBA game at General Motors Place, Vancouver Grizzlies beat Minnesota Timberwolves 100-98 in OT
1994 Space probe Ulyssus completes 1st passage behind the Sun
1994 Tony Rominger bicycles world record time (55,291 km)
1994 Yak-40 accident in north of Peru, 8 killed
1994 Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Barathea, Cherokee Run, Concern, Flanders, One Dreamer, Tikkanen, Timber Country
1993 1st NBA game in Alamodome, San Antonio Spurs beat Warriors 91-85
1992 "Show Off" opens at Criterion Theater New York City for 45 performances
1992 Bobby Fisher beats Boris Spassky to with Chess title in Belgrade
1991 Kiichi Miyazawa elected premier of Japan
1991 Richard J. Kerr, ends term as acting director of CIA
1989 "Threepenny Opera" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City for 65 performances
1989 19th New York City Women's Marathon won by Ingrid Kristiansen in 2:25:30
1989 20th New York City Marathon won by Juma Ikangaa in 2:08:01
1989 Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions
1989 Elaine Crosby wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic
1989 U.S. plays El Salvador, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1988 1st NBA game at Bradley Center, Milwaukee Bucks lose to Los Angeles Clippers 111-9
1988 1st NBA game at Miami Arena, Miami Heat loss to Los Angeles Clippers, 111-91
1988 1st NBA game at Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons beat Hornets 94-85
1988 Cornell confirms grad student source of worst computer sabotage
1988 France performs nuclear test
1988 Gulch wins Breeder's Cup
1988 Japan beats MLB all stars 2-1 in Tokyo (Game 1 of 7)
1988 Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Alysheba, Gt Communicator, Gulch, Is It True, Miesque, Open Mind, Personal Ensign at Churchill Downs
1987 "Into the Woods" opens at Martin Beck Theater New York City for 764 performances
1987 France performs nuclear test
1987 Iceberg twice size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
1987 South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
1987 Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine's musical "Into the Stars," premieres
1987 Supreme Court nominee Douglas H. Ginsburg admitted using marijuana
1985 "News" opens at Helen Hayes Theater New York City for 4 performances
1983 New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques both score in 1st 14 seconds of 3rd period
1983 Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
1982 Cleveland Cavaliers lose 24th consecutive game (NBA record)
1982 George Harrison releases "Gone Troppo" album
1981 Charles Fuller's "Soldier's Play," premieres in New York City
1981 Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficing, conspiracy, and possession of cocaine
1979 Iran government of Bazargan resigns
1979 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declares U.S. The Great Satan
1978 Iranian Prime Minister Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
1978 Khomeini followers attack British embassy/El Al office in Iran
1978 Oakland Raider's John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
1977 NCAA passing record set at 571 yards (Marc Wilson, Brigham Young)
1976 U.S.A. Unemployment The unemployment jobless rate continues to rise with October figures published today showing an increase from 7.8% to 7.9% in October Jobless Figures.
1976 Baltimore Jim Palmer wins AL Cy Young Award
1976 New AL franchises in Seattle and Toronto fill up their rosters
1976 Pirates trade Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 to A's for manager Chuck Tanner
1976 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test
1975 British government sends troops to Belize
1975 Sao Tome and Principe adopts constitution
1974 Dmitri Sjotakovitch completes Michelangelo-liederen
1974 Ella Grasso (Ct) elected 1st woman U.S. Governor not related to previous gov
1974 Walter E. Washington, becomes 1st elected mayor of Washington D.C.
1973 U.S.A. Watergate In the midst of the need for peace in the Middle East, along with the pressing energy crisis, more was at stake in Congress. Another order of business on the agenda pertained to whether or not President Nixon should step down. He was allegedly a part of the Watergate Scandal.
1972 Jane Blalock wins LPGA Lady Errol Golf Classic
1971 Bolivia passes death penalty for political kidnapping
1971 NBA's Los Angeles Lakers starts a 33 game consecutive victory streak
1968 1st AL pitcher to win MVP, Denny McLain (wins unanimously)
1968 Nixon (R) beats Vice President Humphrey (D) and George C. Wallace for presidency
1967 ATS-3 launched by U.S. to take 1st pictures of full Earth disk
1967 Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Corpus Christi Civitan Golf Open
1967 New Orleans Saints 1st NFL victory, beat Philadelphia Eagles 31-24
1967 U.S. troops conquer Loc Ninh South Vietnam
1967 Yemen president Sallal flees
1966 Brigham Young QB Virgil Carter sets NCAA record of 599 yards gained
1966 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 U.S. launches Mariner 3 toward Mars; no data returned
1963 U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visits Netherlands
1961 India's premier Nehru arrives in New York
1961 St. Louis Cardinals Bill Stacy, returns 2 interceptions for TDs vs Dallas
1959 AFL announced with 8 teams
1958 "Maria Golovin" opens at Martin Beck Theater New York City for 5 performances
1958 KGLD (now KSNG) TV channel 11 in Garden City, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
1957 Felix Gaillard forms government in France
1957 Mrs Nellie McGrail wins $574,658 on a 2 cents soccer pool ticket
1956 Britain and France land forces in Egypt
1956 Dutch Communist Party office of Felix Meritis seized
1956 Israel liberates Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba
1956 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Datis nuperrime
1955 Mont Canadien Jean Beliveau scores 2nd fastest hat trick (44 seconds)
1955 New Vienna Opera house opens (Austria)
1955 Date returned to in "Back to the Future" and "Back to the Future II"
1953 Nobel prize for physics awarded/appended on Frederik Zernicke
1953 Paul Searls saws a 32" log in 86.4 seconds
1953 Terence Rattigans' "Sleeping Prince," premieres in London
1951 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1950 Cleveland Browns' Tommy James intercepts 3 passes, club record
1950 Philippines president Quirino ends emergency crisis
1946 John F. Kennedy elected to House of Representatives
1944 Allied troops reach Zoutelande Walcheren
1944 Canadian and British troops liberate Dinteloord
1944 German troops blow-up Heusden North Brabant city hall, 134 die
1943 Vatican bombed
1942 Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
1942 Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
1941 Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima leave Pearl Harbor
1940 Dutch submarine departs Dundee
1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)
1940 Walter Johnson, won 416 games for Washington Senators, loses Maryland congressional race
1938 Ottawa Roughriders score on 5-man, 4-lateral, 65-yard punt return
1938 Rugers beats Princeton 1st time in 60 years as Rutgers Stad dedicated
1937 World War II Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people. Hitler informs his military leader of his intentions of going to war
1936 French writer Andre Gide criticizes Soviet regime
1935 Maryland Court of Appeals orders University of M to admit (black) Donald Murray
1935 Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly
1933 Chicago Bears 30 game unbeaten streak ends to Patriots (10-0)
1933 Spanish Basques vote for autonomy
1932 U.S.A. Roosevelt As the two presidential candidates Hoover and Roosevelt wind up their tour of the country a Roosevelt landslide is being predicted The Nations 40,000,000 voters will decide on Tuesday who will be the nations next leader in these times of mass unemployment and hardship. The odds are 5 to 1 on Roosevelt winning
1932 Mussolini frees 16,000 criminals
1930 Sinclair Lewis, novelist, playwright, and social critic, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first American to win the prize and went to him “for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.” Lewis wrote 22 novels and three plays.
1930 All was quiet in the Fiesta Room at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel this night as the Third Annual Academy Awards were about to be announced. The big winner of the evening, hosted by Conrad Nagel, was "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Outstanding Production - Universal, and Best Director - Lewis Milestone). "The Big House" also took two awards: Best Sound Recording - Douglas Shearer/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department and Best Writing - Frances Marion. Only four more awards were presented at the fledgling film industry’s celebration. Best Actor honors went to George Arliss for his performance in "Disraeli" (a remake of the 1921 silent version, also starring Arliss) and Norma Shearer copped the prize for Best Actress for her role in "The Divorcee". Herman Rosse won an award for his Art Direction in "King of Jazz" and the Best Cinematography award went to Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van Der Veer for "With Byrd at the South Pole". We can now break the silence. Applause! Applause!
1927 10th PGA Championship: Water Hagen at Cedar Crest CC Dallas
1927 Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa for 4th consecutive PGA title
1925 Mussolini disbands Italian socialist parties
1922 Demonstration for a Dutch University in Ghent
1920 U.S.A. liquor raid Two Oklahoma law enforcement personnel helped uncover the details of a liquor raid. In the process, one gallon of corn juice, one quart of gasoline, and one live prisoner were held. One citizen was taken into custody.
1919 Ir Steringa Idzerda begins hosting "soiree-musical" on Dutch radio
1917 General Pershing and U.S. troops see action on Western Front for 1st time
1917 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan vs. Warley) strikes down Lousiville Kentucky ordiance requiring blacks and whites to live in separate areas
1916 Emperor Wilhelm II and French Jozef I establishes kingdom of Poland
1916 Second Chamber accept initial impetus to general males/female suffrage
1914 Great Britain and France and Russia declares war on Turkey
1913 Ludwig III crowned king of Bavaria
1912 Arizona, Kansas and Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
1912 Bulgarian troops in Constantinople blockade drinking water
1912 Woodrow Wilson (D) defeats Theodore Roosevelt (Prog) and President Taft (R)
1911 Italy attacks Turkish North-Africa (Libya), takes Tipoli and Cyrenaica
1911 The first American transcontinental airplane flight was begun. Calbraith P. Rogers flew from Sheepshead Bay, NY to Pasadena, CA. It took Rogers 49 days to make the trip; 24 days were lost due to bad weather and mechanical difficulties. The rest were because he stopped at all the tourist places. Some of us have flown that route, haven’t we?
1898 Gerhart Hauptmanns "Fuhrmann Henschel," premieres in Berlin
1895 1st U.S. patent granted for auto, George B. Selden
1895 George Selden patents 1st gasoline-driven car
1895 King Edward VII says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
1895 U.S. state Utah accepts female suffrage
1894 Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
1894 Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegels," premieres
1887 Ottawa College (ORFU) defeats Montreal Football Club (QRFU) 10-5 to win the Dominion championship
1883 Battle at El Obeid Sudan: Mahdi's army destroys Egyptian army
1883 Musical "Cordelia's Aspirations" premieres in New York City
1882 Bedrich Smetana's "Ma Vlast," premieres
1881 French government-Ferry resigns
1876 Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Nyangwe
1872 Ulysses S. Grant re-elected U.S. president
1872 Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100
1862 American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army for the second and final time
1862 - Indian Wars: In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of rape and murder of white settlers and are sentenced to hang
1862 Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellen as head of Army of Potomac
1862 Battle at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia: 51 casualties
1854 Crimean War: British and French defeat Russian force of 50,000
1846 Robert Schumann's 2nd Symphony in C, premieres
1838 Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation
1831 Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia
1811 El Salvador's 1st battle against Spain for independence
1789 Fleeing slaves under Bonni attack military post on Suriname
1789 French National Meeting declares all citizens equal under law
1781 John Hanson elected 1st "President of U.S. in Congress assembled"
1775 Washington condemns Guy Fawkes festivities
1757 Battle at Rossbach (7 year war/French and Indian War)
1733 The first issue of the "New York Weekly Journal" was published by printer/journalist John Peter Zenger.
1725 Spain and Austria sign secret treaty
1678 Brandenburgse troops occupy Greifswald in Sweden
1639 1st post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
1630 Spain and England sign peace treaty
Events
1605 Eleven men, led by one Guy Fawkes, came together to find a way to return England to the Catholic faith. It seems that King James had been sending Jesuits into exile. The conspirators plotted to kill the King and all members of the Parliament by blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5. They had amassed 36 barrels of gunpowder and placed the barrels under the Houses of Parliament. The plot was discovered on November 4th, and the conspirators were arrested, tried and convicted. The following January, Guy Fawkes and seven other surviving members of the group were beheaded. Their heads were then displayed on the spikes of London Bridge. The following November 5th (1606), the same Parliament Guy Fawkes and his men had attempted to annihilate, established a national day of Thanksgiving. Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night has been celebrated every year since with fireworks and the burning of Guy Fawkes’ effigy.
1556 Akbar (14) succeeds his father Humajun on as Sultan of Delhi
1556 Battle at Panipat: Mogollegers beat hindu leader Hemu
1530 St. Felix Flood ravages Dutch coast
1499 Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany). This Breton-French-Latin dictionary was written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc. It is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary 1492 Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from Indians of Cuba
1414 Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens
1228 Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China