THE FIFTH of November is celebrated each year to commemorate a non-event. It was on that day in 1605 that a plot to blow up the the Houses of Parliament and its inmates, which on that day included King James I. The plotters, led by Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), were Roman Catholics who were annoyed that the king would not grant greater religious tolerance of the Catholics. Had the king been killed, the conspirators would have tried to replace him with a Catholic monarch.

Guy Fawkes Day, the 5th of November, celebrates the fact that the plot failed. For several days before the 5th of November, and for a few days after it, fireworks are let off both in private and public spaces all over Britain. And because the Hindu festival of Diwali (Deepavali) is often celebrated with fireworks close to Guy Fawkes Day, between that festival and the 5th of November, the sky is filled with sounds of explosions almost every evening.