Bonfire boys

We so enjoyed Nigel Jones’s last contribution to Coffee House that we thought we’d invite him back to describe the rather eccentric Bonfire Night celebrations in Lewes…

Here in Lewes near the Sussex coast we were awoken this morning at 6am by a flash in the sky followed by an ear-splitting explosion. The shock waves reverbrated around the South Downs that cup the town in chalky hands, setting off barking dogs and car alarms. On any other day I would have feared that an incoming airliner had fallen short of the Gatwick runway. But this is November 5th – Guy Fawkes day, or as we call it here simply “Bonfire”. In Lewes, you see, we take Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up the entire Establishment seriously. Very seriously indeed.

Across the centuries since the Gunpowder Plot was foiled in 1605, its failure has been celebrated around the country with firework displays, as Guy himself suffered capital punishment for his treason all over again by being burnt in effigy on a million bonfires.