London-Guy Fawkes Night

Not in recent years, but I remember the streets being packed with idiots throwing bangers at people back in 2004. Fireworks going off in the middle of the freakin' day, scaring the shit out of people who thought it was gunfire. I heard a few stories of fireworks being put through letterboxes as well... I hate fireworks.

I read in a book about King Charles II that on Guy Fawkes night that they lit effiges (sorry if I misspelled) of the pope on fire. Do they still do that? I know it was originally an anti-Catholic holiday

I've not heard of effigies of the pope being set on fire around where I live. Maybe in Glasgow... It's mostly ol' Guido that gets set alight atop a pile of wood, which is where the 'penny for the guy' thing comes from (as if I would give the little brats money so they can buy petrol).

These days...

most local communities have a communal bonfire and fireworks. In London my friends have a 'street' party, barbecues instead of fires, but good fireworks let off by the Dads. They make their Guys to use as scarecrows!

History_gal said:

I read in a book about King Charles II that on Guy Fawkes night that they lit effiges (sorry if I misspelled) of the pope on fire. Do they still do that? I know it was originally an anti-Catholic holiday

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Guys can look like anyone... politicians, celebrities, anyone who might have generated a bit of hate. Many of them are just generic though.

I moved out of London just over ten years ago so my memories are somewhat ancient. The field outside the block of flats we lived in as used to hold a huge bonfire that was built up for weeks before the event. Kids used to throw all sorts of rubbish on the ever growing pile. There was always a lot of people round the bonfire and it was lit just after the sun went down. There were some fireworks, but not many. I can also remember kids with home made go carts - a wooden box on a couple of planks of wood and wheels from an old pram - with a guy in it. Kids would ask for 'a penny for the Guy'. The money they collected was supposed, by tradition, to be spent on fireworks but I think, in the lean post-war years, it might well have been used to help but food. Sometimes the local greengrocer would give a sack of potatoes to be cooked in the bonfire - they had a strange taste!

Fireworks were put through letter boxes and if you did not close your windows then you could get a rocket in your room. Depending on where you were in London the smell of the fireworks and bonfires were around for a day or two. I think that the large displays do attract a lot of people and the only walking around they would do would be from the tube station or bus stop to the viewing areas. The Lord Mayor of London (not BoJo! who is mayor of Greater London) has a show each year with fireworks see here:
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/lord-mayors-show-fireworks-display.aspx

Depends on where in London, its a big place. A lot of residential areas will have council/community organised firework shows in parks or playing fields on the Saturday nearest to Nov 5.

I lived in Clapham for the last five years or so. Every year on a Saturday night nearest to Nov 5th they have a fireworks display at 8PM for about 30 mins on Clapham Common.

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/clapham-fireworks-display.aspx

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...1.458901,-0.147178&spn=0.007754,0.022638&z=16

The common itself is very crowded as it's a highly populated area, people will walk from all the surrounding areas within 5-15 minutes of the park, some will catch buses to get there from further away.

So in the lead up to the event and afterwards the streets are very crowded with people coming and going. London is very busy _every_ Saturday night so it's not unusually crowded beyond the norm. Londoners are used to heavy traffic.

Most of the other councils within the city run similar events. There's also fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Bonfires used to be traditional but are usually done on a smaller scale and not organised by the council (probably for various insurance reasons). There are a few large community bonfires in some villages but only in outlying areas of London.

If you PM me I can send you a couple of crowd photos as examples, although it may take a while to hunt them down.

Forgot to say, it is _always_ cold by Nov 5th so everyone is in their winter coats for bonfire night. It can be pleasnt during the day if sunny but by the time the fireworks start it feels really cold.

Never, of course, neglecting the possibility of rain

BigWords said:

Not in recent years, but I remember the streets being packed with idiots throwing bangers at people back in 2004. I hate fireworks.

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Bangers? Sausages?

Bangers are little firecracker-type things. I don't know what they're called elsewhere, but they are loud. And annoying.

ETA: These weapons of mass irritation.

StephanieFox said:

Bangers? Sausages?

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The word bangers is used to mean sausages, small fireworks that go bang, and old neglected cars. Context is king!

'I was sitting in my old banger eating a plate of bangers and chips when some loon threw a banger at me'

I live in Oxford and last year we had a gigantic Spartan Guy It was pretty impressive. Then it started to rain and they had a hard time lighting him up > Had some lovely homemade doughnuts while I waited for the pyre. Num num. I'm going again on the 7th (because the 5th is a week day).

RobinGBrown said:

The word bangers is used to mean sausages, small fireworks that go bang, and old neglected cars. Context is king!

'I was sitting in my old banger eating a plate of bangers and chips when some loon threw a banger at me'

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Is is my understanding that sausages were called 'bangers' because they used to explode! During World War II sausages had extra water in them to make them seem larger. During cooking the water expanded and the sausage went 'BANG!' Which is why sausages used to, and possible still do, get pranged with a sharp instrument prior to being cooked.

In Lewes, they still burn the pope on Bonfire Night, but in most places not.

I live in a small city about 25 miles outside of London, but it's not just in London that the streets get filled with loons. Most communities will have some sort of fireworks event, and a lot of individuals have parties too, so everyone seems to be out and about on Guy Fawkes night.

Couple of years ago some idiots filled the phonebox 20 yards from my house with fireworks... I thought the world was ending! Some of the fireworks got blown out of the box and went all over the street, bouncing off the buildings and stuff. Broken glass everywhere.

London Guy Fawkes Night

Sorry I cant spell

And fine Ill chance my name back, But Tim thought it would be a bad idea to put our real names down

8pm Nov 5th and I can see the fireworks from 3 different displays from my place.
Bear in mind it is midweek and a lot of the bigger displays are held on the weekend.

RobinGBrown said:

The word bangers is used to mean sausages, small fireworks that go bang, and old neglected cars. Context is king!

'I was sitting in my old banger eating a plate of bangers and chips when some loon threw a banger at me'

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And then my girlfriend came over, and I had to bang 'er.