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Guy Fawkes as imagined by the 19th century artist George Cruikshank. A picture from William Harrison Ainsworth's novel Guy Fawkes.

The plotters

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), sometimes known as Guido Fawkes, was a member of a group of Roman Catholic revolutionaries from England who planned to carry out the Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes and the other plotters planned to kill the king, James I, and replace him with a Catholic monarch.

The day 5 November 1605 is remembered each year in the UK during Guy Fawkes Night. People build large bonfires, light fireworks, and burn figures of Fawkes (known as 'the guy').