Episode 81 Who is Guy Fawkes? And What Did He Do?

In today's episode we'll look at the British history that led Guy Fawkes and his gang to plot to try to blow up the King, his family and Parliament all those years ago. This week, on Saturday (5th Nov) it's Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night in the UK. While this isn't a public holiday, other than Christmas and Halloween, it's probably one of the days kids look forward to the most. Guy Fawkes Night comes from something that happened all the way back in 1605, and yet even now, most people in the UK can remember the story and at least the beginning of the nursery rhyme about it. Tomorrow we'll look at Guy Fawkes influence in modern Britain and around the world.   See you tomorrow! Today's Idioms To see eye to eye - to agree with each other Fly in the ointment - something that is in the way or is going to spoil or damage the outcome Blind leading the blind - when people who don't know what they're doing are in charge or leading more people who also don't know what they're doing To give up the ghost - to give up or stop trying on something that is not going to be successful or is not going to work. Additional Vocabulary 3 Score - Score is an old word for 10, so 3 score is 30. Infamous - Someone who is famous because of something bad Legacy - the thing you leave behind when you die often seen as your impact or influence on the world Fervent - someone who is very passionate, sometimes too passionate To pot with that - idiom - similar to 'to heck with that' means I can't be bothered with that, or I'm going to ignore that It did the job - idiom - It was successful, it did what we needed it to do Thus (and thus made the Pope no longer important) - This is an old fashioned English word that is not used very often in modern English, it means 'therefore' or 'consequently' in this context, but it can mean 'and so' in other contexts. The Reformation - This is the moment in British history where the UK split from the Catholic church and made it's own church (Church of England or Anglican Church). It caused a lot of chaos in the country and had lasting influences and change that we don't cover in the podcast today.https://www.history.com/topics/reformation/reformation She has a foot in each camp. - idiom - if we have a foot or boot in each camp it means we're not taking sides or she's not going to make a decision. We can also say 'she's sitting on the fence' or 'she's on the fence'. Butt heads - If we butt heads with someone then we disagree with them. Puppet King - this is a term specifically related to royalty and the movement of power. A puppet monarch is usually too young to make decisions, even if they're older they don't really have any power. The country is usually run by powerful ministers or advisers instead. In this case, Guy Fawkes gang wanted to install a puppet queen who would do and believe as they wanted. In Scotland both Mary Queen of Scots and James the VI were puppet monarchs in their youth because they were so young. Many rich noblemen made the most of their youth to get things the way they wanted. Interloper - someone who comes in without permission, someone who comes from another place, often someone who gets involved with politics or a social group or activity without being asked