The former school of gunpowder plotter Guy Fawkes is all set for its annual fireworks display – but there will not be a bonfire or a guy, the head teacher has said.
Fawkes – the most infamous conspirator behind a plot to blow up Parliament and kill King James I in 1605 – was born in York in 1570, and was educated at St Peter’s School.
The anniversary of the plot’s discovery on 5 November became known as Bonfire Night, and over the years dolls made from old clothes and straw were burned on bonfires to represent the treason committed by Fawkes.
Head Jeremy Walker said: “We have fireworks at the school… but what we won’t be doing is having a bonfire and burning an effigy of one of our former pupils on top of it.”
