Remember, remember, the 5th of November (Guy Fawkes Day)

Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot: The huge blast radius had he succeeded

It was 419 years ago today that one of the most catastrophic episodes in English history was only narrowly averted.

In the early hours of November 5th, 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught under London's House of Lords with a box of matches and 36 barrels of gunpower.  

Along with his fellow Catholic conspirators, Fawkes was found guilty of trying to blow up Parliament and assassinate James I of England. 

But he disastrous blast was foiled, and Fawkes was tortured on the rack before being tried for high treason in January 1606.

Ever since, the question persists – what would have happened had the Gunpowder Plot been successful?

The Gunpowder Plot would have razed everything to the ground within a radius of about 130 feet, while up to 360 feet away buildings would have been at least partially destroyed. 

In what became known as the Gunpowder Plot, Catholic conspirators led by Robert Catesby (depicted above with Guy Fawkes and other plotters) planned to kill James I by blowing up Parliament in 1605

The explosion would have destroyed Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and more. 

Jewel Tower, part of the Palace of Westminster from the 14th century, would have been partially damaged, as well as Whitehall - the site of Downing Street today. 

Within a radius of about 130 feet, everything would have been razed to the ground, while up to 360 feet away buildings would have been at least partially destroyed. 

Up to around 3,000 feet, some windows would have been blown out and Londoners would have felt the force of the blast. 

The cellar beneath the House of Lords, as illustrated in 1799, where Guy Fawkes was found with the gunpowder

Fawkes was just one of 13 co-conspirators; he is most famous because he was the one caught as he was guarding the explosives, not because he was the ringleader 

Fawkes was an expert in explosives and if he had the powder well packed in barrels, it would have an equivalent blast radius to modern TNT.

In all, 36 barrels of gunpowder totaling 2,500kg were stored in a cellar underneath the House of Lords.

The intention had been to detonate them during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5, when James I, the Queen and his heir would also be present.

The plot was hatched by Robert Catesby when it had become clear that King James I, who came to power in 1603, was going to continue the persecution of Catholics carried out by his predecessor Queen Elizabeth I.

It's known that Fawkes – an explosives expert who had served in the Spanish army – used substantially more gunpowder than he needed. 

In 2005, to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, a full-size replica of the House of Lords was built and destroyed with barrels of gunpowder at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria, England 

Originally from York, Fawkes' job was to light the fuse and escape across the Thames – but with hours to go he was found during a royal search following a tip-off. 

An anonymous letter of warning was sent to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, a Catholic member of Parliament, who immediately showed it to the authorities. 

An extract reads: 'They shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them'. 

Royal guards searched The House of Lords and in the early hours of November 5, Fawkes was found in the cellars, with a fuse, a small lamp, a box of matches and 36 poorly-hidden barrels of gunpowder. 

After Fawkes's arrest, Catesby and the other plotters fled the 80 miles from London back to Ashby St Ledgers in Northamptonshire in seven hours.

Catesby died two days later in a shootout as he attempted to resist arrest at Holbeach House in Staffordshire.

His head was later cut off and taken to London, where it was stuck on the roof Parliament.

Fawkes and fellow conspirators Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood and Robert Keyes were hanged, drawn and quartered in the Old Palace Yard, opposite Parliament at Westminster.

Fawkes's death came after he was subjected to three months of interrogation and torture.

His signature on the confession he made on November 9 was barely legible, demonstrating the impact of the torture.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14042523/Guy-Fawkes-Gunpowder-Plot-Interactive-map.html

Bonfire night has a well-told history which we are reminded of each year: 'Remember, remember the fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot.'

The most notorious member of the 1605 plot was Guy Fawkes, who was infamously found guarding the gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament which was there to kill King James I. 

But did you know that Guy - full name Guido - Fawkes was not the true mastermind behind the plan? And were you aware that one of the plotters themselves is to blame for the idea's failure?

The King's guards arrested the infamous plotter underneath the House of Lords

Robert Catesby led the plot

Fawkes was one of 13 plotters, brought in as an explosives expert to look after and light the 36 barrels of gunpowder in the cellar they had rented underneath the House of Lords.

The ringleader-in-chief was Robert Catesby - a Catholic upset by the Protestant King's increased hostility towards Catholics. 

One of the plotters gave the game away

The conspirators were likely betrayed by a traitor - or someone who lost their nerve.

On October 26, Lord William Parker, the 4th Baron Monteagle received a letter warning him not to go to the state opening of parliament - when the monarch is in attendance every year - on November 5.

The anonymous letter was passed on to the King, who ordered a search of the area in the days before, leading to Fawkes' capture.

One theory is that one of the plotters who was a relative of Lord Parker sent the letter, but many historians argue that the Lord's politics were too clear to expect him to keep the letter a secret, making a deliberate scuppering of the plot more likely.

Fawkes was actually caught on November 4

We celebrate the day that the plot was expected to come to fruition, rather than when it was thwarted.

The King's guards discovered Fawkes in the cellar the day before the better-recognised date when he was using the pseudonym John Johnson. 

After his arrest, Fawkes was tortured in the Tower of London, eventually giving up his real name and those of his co-conspirators, with his signature barely legible - presumed to be a sign of the extend of his torture - on a confession dated November 9. 

Fawkes evaded capital punishment

Fawkes' accomplices had fled to the Midlands by the time Fawkes confessed, but were captured on the morning of November 8.

Robert Catesby, Cristopher and John Wright, and Thomas Percy were all shot dead and the others were taken to the Tower of London.

Those left alive, including Fawkes, were sentenced to death on January 31, 1606, by being hung, drawn and quartered for treason.

However, according to some accounts as Fawkes made his way up the gallows he either jumped or fell before putting his head through the noose.

The fall was enough to break his neck and he died, but his body was still quartered and sent to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning to any other plotters.

King Henry VII's wedding which united the warring York and Lancaster families was the setting for the UK's first-ever fireworks display

King Henry VII held the first-ever fireworks display

The wedding of King Henry VII in January 1486 played host to the first-ever recorded fireworks display in Britain.

The landmark event united the two warring families of houses of York and Lancaster.

The site where Fawkes was found no longer exists

The conspirators leased a cellar and passageway under the House of Lords in March 1605, after their plans to tunnel underneath the building had proven unfeasible. 

It remained for over two centuries after Fawkes was found there but was damaged by fire in 1834. 

When the Palace of Westminster was rebuilt in that century, the infamous cellar was destroyed. 

It was once illegal not to celebrate Bonfire Night in Britain

After the plot had failed, the King ordered that the day be celebrated.

Until 1959 it was illegal to not celebrate bonfire night in Britain, with the exception of during the World Wars, when no one was allowed to set off fireworks or light bonfire due to the risk of being spotted by enemy aircraft.

Instead, bonfire night was celebrated indoors to protect the people by not advertising where they were.

Fawkes'  former school do not celebrate bonfire night

Until 1959, there was only one place in the UK that refused to celebrate the failed plot.

St Peter’s School in York were granted an exemption from burning pictures of its former pupil - Guy Fawkes - as was customary elsewhere.

Guards still check the cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament every year 

The Yeoman of the Guard checking the Houses of Parliament's cellars has become a ceremonial tradition before the state opening of parliament every year.

Those with a taste for reliving history can rent the gatehouse of the manor where the Gunpowder Plot was planned in 1605. Above: The property in Ashby St Ledger

The three-bed property, available for £300 a night, is just yards from the room in the ten-bed Ashby Manor House where the men met in the days leading up to November 5, 1605

Along with the original gatehouse, the 32-acre estate boasts barns and dovecotes

Glasgow lights up against the backdrop of fireworks commemorating 5 November

Bonfire societies parade through the streets during traditional Bonfire Night celebrations

The procession also remembers a two-year martyrdom known as the Marian Persecutions

Bloody Mary infamously ordered the burning of 288 Protestants and 17 were killed in Lewes between 1555 and 1557

Lewes in East Sussex has been dubbed the bonfire capital of the world

People marched through the town dressed in 17th century clothing reminiscent of what Guy Fawkes would have worn when he plotted to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605

Seven per cent of young people think Fawkes invented the fork 

How the Hunter Biden Laptop Story was Squashed

Ousted CBS reporter reveals how network squashed Hunter Biden story

An ousted veteran CBS reporter has written a lengthy expose revealing details about how the network squashed a Hunter Biden story. 

Writing on her newsletter, Catherine Herridge described the broadcaster's investigation into the laptop as a 'missed opportunity for CBS News', saying the broadcaster failed to properly report her findings. 

Herridge told company executives the laptop contained material about 'a million dollar retainer from a Chinese energy firm' along with Hunter's business texts and emails in early October 2020, before the election. 

But later that month, during a 60 Minutes interview with then-President Trump, correspondent Lesley Stahl said the laptop 'couldn't be verified'. 'As I watched the broadcast, I felt sick,' Herridge wrote. 

It comes after two IRS whistleblowers sat down with Herridge for an interview and told her they were banned from investigating Joe Biden amid the government's probe into his son. 

Herridge told company executives the laptop contained material about 'a million dollar retainer from a Chinese energy firm' along with Hunter's business texts and emails 

Now, Herridge says that CBS failed to properly report on what she found on the laptop.

'I had been tasked with vetting the laptop and its contents after multiple platforms had suppressed the story,' Herridge wrote, adding that she was commissioned by CBS News executive Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews to get 'confirmed reporting' on Hunter Biden for Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell in October 2020.

'Due diligence included working the phones, reaching out to people on the Hunter Biden emails for corroboration and cross-referencing court records. 

'The vetted documents I collected also indicated the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden.

'I told Ciprian-Matthews the vetted materials included a million dollar retainer from a Chinese energy firm, emails with Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski as well as Hunter Biden text messages.

'Asked by Ciprian-Matthews if there was a “Hunter connection,” I responded, “Yes, all of them.”

'I then provided some of the vetted records directly to Ciprian-Matthews. We spoke on the phone. I don’t know at this point what happened next.

'Based on my reporting, and as the network’s senior investigative correspondent, standard practice would have been for the CBS News investigative unit  to develop more reporting on the laptop, before the 2020 election. But they didn't.

Herridge said that a 60 Minutes interview with then-President Trump later that month made her 'feel sick' as CBS anchors told him the laptop 'can't be verified'. 

'I knew the laptop records could be vetted and confirmed,' she said.

'I was confused by what seemed a disconnect between the CBS News division and 60 Minutes.

'It took an additional two years for the network to broadcast a forensic review of the Hunter Biden laptop data. 

'I advocated for the report which determined that both the data belonged to Hunter Biden and it had not been tampered with. 

'Our report was only broadcast in November 2022, too late, after the midterm elections.'

IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley And Joseph Ziegler, who were banned from investigating Biden, sat down with veteran journalist Catherine Herridge for an interview where they said the IRS looks the other way when it comes to the country's powerful elite, which they call 'sensitive persons'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14038833/cbs-reporter-hunter-biden-story-catherine-herridge.html

Ziegler said prosecutors specifically told IRS investigators 'that they didn't want to ask about the big guy, because they knew it was Joe Biden.'

The whistleblowers said the IRS, FBI and DOJ knew Hunter Biden's laptop was real but they were not allowed to look into it.

'There were a lot of overt investigative steps that we were not allowed to take because we had an upcoming election,' Ziegler added.

The whistleblowers said they have been punished for speaking out about the IRS' treatment of Hunter Biden. 

'The IRS just has a smothering blanket on me hoping that I quit, that they find some way to terminate me or commit suicide or something,' Shapley claimed.

Ziegler, on his part, said he is up against 'a machine that has millions of dollars that has the ability to fight me.'

Still, Shapley and Ziegler said they feel vindicated that Hunter Biden in the end pleaded guilty to the tax crimes outlined in the indictment against him. 

The two shared an email they received from their IRS supervisor after Hunter's conviction thanking them for their work.

'Those are words that are not supported by the actions of the agency,' Shapley said.

He added: 'This to me was someone who knows the IRS watchdog is looking into the way that they've handled this and they see the writing on the wall.

'This really is an example of them just covering their backside like a true bureaucracy.'

Shapley and Ziegler previously told congress there was a pattern of 'slow-walking investigative steps' into Hunter Biden, including during the Trump administration in the months before the 2020 election that Joe Biden won.

In testimony, Shapley alleged the DOJ dragged its feet in the probe into the president's son's taxes and Ziegler said Hunter 'received preferential treatment' during the process.

One of Shapley’s most detailed claims was that U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware, the federal prosecutor who led the investigation, asked for special counsel status in order to bring the tax cases against Hunter Biden in jurisdictions outside Delaware, including the District of Columbia and California, but was denied. 

Shapley said the Justice Department 'slow-walked' its probe into Hunter's taxes during his testimony in congress last year

Hunter Biden eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor and felony tax charges.

Prosecutors said that Hunter Biden lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels — 'in short, everything but his taxes.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14015105/IRS-whistleblowers-say-banned-investigating-Joe-Biden-specifically-told-not-ask-big-guy.html

Hours after being released from federal prison, the ex president's former chief strategist Steve Bannon said he had a warning for the Biden family: Pardon Hunter before he has to serve a sentence that could destroy him. 'I don't think Hunter Biden would last 48 hours in a federal prison,' he told DailyMail.com.

He left Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut , in the early hours of Tuesday morning. After broadcasting his War Room livestream show from a Manhattan hotel suite he sat down with DailyMail.com to talk about the lowest point of his incarceration, what he learned from the inmates and how life in the U.S. Navy had prepared him for being cooped up with so many men.

'I'm 70 years old. I can tell you, there's not many 70-year-olds I know on Wall Street or in the political class that could go to a federal prison for four months,' he said. 'It's extremely difficult. 'These places are violent places. There's lots of drugs. This drug, K2 is all over these prisons.' K2 is synthetic marijuana, also known as 'spice', that can be sprayed onto paper and smuggled into jails.

Bannon was straight back into the swing of the campaign on Tuesday morning. He returned to the airwaves at 10 am and used his show to accuse former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of trying to silence him. ' She sent me to a federal prison as a political prisoner, to do two things, to make sure that she tried to tamp down the power of this show, right, tamp down the power of the show, and also to break me,' he said.

He urged supporters to ensure Democrats 'cannot steal [November 5th],' showing that the prison sentence had not dimmed his fire. Later in the day it was on to a press conference, where dozens of journalists crammed into an upscale hotel suite to hear him repeat the claim that the 2020 presidential results had been stolen.