When we hear people use the popular saying “nice guys finish last”, it is interesting to reflect that the famous “Guy” who gave us the word will not be remembered for anything particularly nice, and if he had finished his task European history might have been very different.
Tonight, weather permitting, bonfires will burn all over Britain. Guy Fawkes Night, otherwise known as Bonfire Night, has traditionally been more widely celebrated than Halloween. Perhaps the opportunity to start a fire has captured the imagination of British children more than the opportunity to collect sweets from neighbours.
The Guy who began the tradition was one of history’s nearly-men. On 5 November 1605, a Catholic plot to blow up the British Houses of Parliament with the King and all his ministers inside it was foiled. In a cellar below Parliament, surrounded by 36 barrels of gunpowder, Guy Fawkes was captured. The Observance of 5th November Act marked the date for national celebration, and its popularity grew. In the 1826 Everlasting calendar of popular amusements, Guy Fawkes Day was described as the “greatest holiday of the season”.
In the centuries that followed the Gunpowder Plot, the word guy was used to describe a grotesque, disgraceful figure. Straw effigies of Guy Fawkes were thrown onto bonfires, and the name was not one that any proud parent would choose for their child. In time the insult faded, and the word became an informal, non-judgmental description of a man. Indeed, the balance has tipped in favour of the “guy”, and today it is likely to indicate a positive, friendly relationship.
This positive twist would not have occurred to Guy Fawkes as he suffered the consequences of his treason. After torture and execution, his body was cut into quarters and dispatched to all corners of the country as a warning to others. The man who had intended to blow his King to pieces ended up suffering a similar fate himself.
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