Summary
AS it's bonfire night tonight don't forget to raise a glass or two of mulled cider to the good burghers of Bristol who, it's said, invented the tradition more than 400 years ago.
Quite why Bristol pioneered the event isn't certain - as far as we know, Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators had no local connections. But being dangerous times, the Corporation (as ever) no doubt felt it wise to keep in with whoever was in power. What better way to show loyalty to the Crown, they reckoned, than a civic show celebrating the death of zealous Roman Catholic Guy, the man who had plotted to blow up King James and his Parliament? By 1607, just two years after the Gunpowder Plot had been rumbled, the good citizens of Bristol had already seized on November 5 as a good excuse for a bit of civic junketing. "The records show that this day (November 5) was already celebrated by popular manifestations," Bristol historian John Latimer reveals in his Annals.See the full content of this document
Extract
Pioneering November the Fifth
This, of course, could mean anything from general public merriment to bear and bull-baiting, cock-fighting, da...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
