BEFORE you light your bonfire and set off your fireworks on November 5, why not ‘spare a thought’ for Guy Fawkes, who we’re still sending up in flames, more than 400 years after the crime he’s SUPPOSED to have committed. Look for our playlist here with 7 episodes, called Blowing up the Gunpowder Plot. It's a grisly story with shady characters, state torture, spies including Shakespeare's rival Ben Jonson, and a network of men skilled at framing enemies particularly Catholics who sent Mary Queen of Scots to her death - this was called practicing or entrapment. Here is the soundtrack from a short YouTube promo. We recorded in one take in our study so we've left the hesitations in for you here. We wouldn't usually!

Gunpowder? The Plot that never was

Britain is gripped by fear of invasion. Government leaflet 'If the Invader Comes' calls for pepper and ‘a sharp knife to kill them if necessary.’ Churchill goes on BBC and says ‘we await undismayed by the impending assault. Perhaps it will come tonight.’ So why in private is Churchill saying he doubts the invasion would ever take place?

#03 'Always carry pepper to throw in their eyes' - ep 3 of Who really won the Battle of Britain?

True history storytelling at the History Café. Join BBC Historian Jon Rosebank & HBO, BBC & C4 script and series editor Penelope Middelboe as we give history a new take. Drop in to the History Café weekly on Wednesdays to give old stories a refreshing new brew. 75+ ever-green stand-alone episodes and building...

Gunpowder? The Plot that never was

History Cafe

Related tracks