(Hat tip: C. Stephen Ludlow.)
It’s been 400 years since the “gunpower plot” was foiled. The BBC has a bunch of links, including a lengthy article asking the question: what if it had succeeded? More on the plot here and here.
Also, Britons are submitting their bonfire photos to Flickr.
Here’s a penny for the Guy!
[Insert NHS inside-joke references to Eustacia Vye, Egdon Heath and the late, great “Murphy tree” here.]
P.S. For those unfamiliar with all of this… Mr. Ludlow, the AP English teacher at Newington High (now retired) and still one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, made Guy Fawkes Day the focal point of a whole bunch of unique, wonderful traditions, and participating in them was like a rite of passage, inducting you into the fraternity of “Lud” alums (Luddites?). Trying to explain everything in this space would take too long and would be futile anyway… it’s a “you had to be there” sort of thing. But I will point out that the entire text of Return of the Native, which is framed by Guy Fawkes Day on each side of the text (well, if you ignore Book Six, which you should), can be read here.
P.P.S. Fellow Lud alums: can you believe it’s been seven years since we were sitting in class, learning about Guy Fawkes and the Murphy tree for the first time?
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November 5th, 2005 at 8:36:16 am
Murphy tree, dude. MURPHY tree.
November 5th, 2005 at 12:53:55 pm
Er, yeah, Murphy tree, I knew that…. fixing it now….
November 5th, 2005 at 3:55:40 pm
::ahem:: The Return of the Native
“The” implies specificity. Clearly, you don’t remember enough of the lesson :-)
I can’t believe that it’s been 7 years, either. And we all know that the “Murphy tree” was destroyed in a true miscarriage of justice, otherwise known as the “Big Idea.” And not even a student-signed petition could save it.
And I totally agree, Lud was one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, also.
(And other than Sean and myself, do any of us “Luddites” actually read this thing anymore?)
November 5th, 2005 at 4:13:56 pm
Yeah, there are a few others here and there, I think. But you two are the ones I was most confident would see this. I also e-mailed the link to Lud. :)
November 5th, 2005 at 8:51:28 pm
Indeed. “The Lud” was one of my inspirations to be a teacher. Partially because he had this crazy idea that an English teacher should ask what *we* thought about the book. (And he doesn’t like compulsory education, either.)
BTW Josh, let’s not forget the importance of the name Clement…
November 5th, 2005 at 11:18:42 pm
I’m not normally one for posting messages, but this deserves one. I’ve forgotten most of what I learned and what happened in high school, but I’ll always remember the 5th of November. It brings back fond memories of senior year and friendships that will survive distance and time…even time as long as 7 long years. :-) Thanks to Mr. Ludlow for all the lessons he taught.
November 6th, 2005 at 3:25:54 pm
Cool. Did he teach you the full rhyme? Not exactly pope-friendly lyrics there. ;-)