Bonfire Night: what does it all mean?

Remember, remember the 5th of November? To most people, the answer would have to be a qualified 'Er, no, not really.' To most it's an excuse to let off a few fireworks, build a fire and 'enjoy' cheap sausages and ropey wine in plastic cups.

There is, however, a reason for this great autumn pageant. The origins of our annual Bonfire Night antics - burning of effigies, exuberant celebrations with fireworks and all that - go back to before Elizabethan times...

England's Catholics had watched as Henry VIII, furious at his inability to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, severed this country's links with Rome and the Catholic church.

After his tempestuous reign followed brief reigns by the Protestant-leaning child-king Edward VI and the tragic stooge, Lady Jane Grey, executed for treason.

The Catholics felt the tide of history turn in their favour with the succession of Mary, daughter of Henry and Catherine, and fervently Catholic. During her reign, England returned once more to subjugation under the Holy See, Rome itself...

And with the return came the requirement that heretics - that is, Protestants - be burned at the stake and Mary's Reign of Terror began, earning her the posthumous nickname Bloody Mary. Between 1555 and 1558 almost three hundred victims lost their lives in the flames - among them the celebrated Protestant bishops Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley.

After the death of Mary began the reign of England's first great Protestant queen, Elizabeth I. She came to the throne determined that the bloody years preceding it should come to an end. Although England was to be a Protestant country, Elizabeth wished to display even-handedness towards all her subjects - Catholic worship in private would be tolerated.

Her wishes, however, were ignored and religious persecution continued unchecked from 1570 onwards, with Catholic priests going into hiding and, when they were caught, being hung, drawn and quartered in public. Ordinary Catholics who refused to recant were made to pay an annual fine of £260, an enormous sum in those days. The resentment of Catholics found a figurehead in tragic Mary, Queen of Scots - and that resentment boiled over when Elizabeth reluctantly had her executed for treason.

And so when Elizabeth passed away and the throne passed to Mary's son James, England's Catholics felt a new dawn was breaking for them, a new era of power and tolerance towards their faith. Sadly for them, James proved to be a disappointment. Although Mary's son, he was not himself a Catholic, and it was soon apparent that the persecution and prejudice would continue.

Enter Robert Catesby, a handsome and devout young Catholic of 25. He had suffered greatly under the persecution of Elizabeth's reign and watched his father, Sir William, brought to ruin by the annual fine for 'recusants' of £260; he died in prison a broken man.