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Traditions and customs


Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in Britain annually on November 5th. The event is accompanied by firework displays, the lighting of bonfires and the ceremonial effigy-burning of one Guy Fawkes. The origin of this celebration stems from events which took place in 1605 and was a conspiracy known as "The Gunpowder Plot," intended to take place on November 5th of that year (the day set for the opening of Parliament). The object of The Gunpowder Plot was to blow up English Parliament along with the ruling monarch, King James I. It was hoped that such a disaster would initiate a great uprising of English Catholics, who were distressed by the increased severity of penal laws against the practice of their religion. The conspirators, who began plotting early in 1604, eventually expanded their members to a point where secrecy was impossible. One of their number, Thomas Percy (who had contacts at the Court of King James), hired a cellar beneath the House of Lords. Within this cellar were secretly stored 36 barrels (almost two tons) of gunpowder, overlaid with iron bars and firewood. The plan went awry, however, by way of a myserious letter received by Lord Monteagle on October 26th (10 days prior to the opening of Parliament). Monteagle, brother-in-law of Francis Tresham (another of the conspirators and likely author of the correspondence...although this was never proven), was urged in the letter not to attend Parliament on opening day. When the message was revealed to the First Earl of Salisbury and others, they took steps which led to the discovery of the hidden cache and the arrest of Guy Fawkes on the night of November 4th as he entered the cellar. The majority of the other conspirators, either overtaken as they attempted to flee or seized shortly thereafter, were killed outright, imprisoned or executed. While the plot itself was the work of a small number of men, it provoked hostility against all British Catholics and led to an increase in the harshness of laws against them. Even to this day, it is the law that no Roman Catholic may hold the office of monarch and the reigning king or queen remains Supreme Head of the Church of England. A modern theory regarding the involvement of Guy Fawkes in the Gunpower Plot is that he was not trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament at all, but merely attempting to assassinate King James who, it was believed, had reneged on his promise to put a stop to the persecution of Catholics. In any event, it remains unclear whether the conspirators would have been successful in their plan, even if they had not been betrayed. Some believe that the gunpowder they were planning to use was so old as to be useless for the task. Today, one of the ceremonies which accompanies the opening of a new session of Parliament is a traditional searching of the basement by the Yeoman of the Guard. It has been said that for superstitious reasons, no State Opening of Parliament has or ever will be held again on November 5th. This, however, is a fallacy since on at least one occasion (in 1957), Parliament did indeed open on November 5th. The actual cellar employed for the storage of the gunpowder in 1605 by the conspirators was damaged by fire in 1834 and totally destroyed during the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in the Nineteenth Century. Also known as "Firework Night" and "Bonfire Night," November 5th was designated by King James I (via an Act of Parliament) as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance." This Act remained in force until 1859. On the very night of the thwarted Gunpowder Plot, it is said that the populace of London celebrated the defeat by lighting fires and engaging in street festivities. It would appear that similar celebrations took place on each anniversary and, over the years, became a tradition. In many areas, a holiday was observed, although it is not celebrated in Northern Ireland. Guy Fawkes Night is not solely a British celebration. The tradition was also established in the British colonies by the early American settlers and actively pursued in the New England States under the name of "Pope Day" as late as the Eighteenth Century. Today, the celebration of Guy Fawkes and his failed plot remains a tradition in such places as Newfoundland (Canada) and some areas of New Zealand, in addition to the British Isles.

Grand National


The Grand National is held annually at the Aintree race course in Liverpool, arguably it is the biggest test of horse and jockey in the world. The grueling four and a half mile course has thirty fences, many measuring more than seven foot. with a field of forty runners the race is one of England's biggest sporting spectacle.
Of the forty horses that start the race an average of just 30% will have the stamina to complete the course. On more than one occasion horses have been killed as they tackled the notorious fences. These deaths have led to animal rights campaigners calling for the race to be banned.
The Grand National  race is watched by over 500 million people worldwide on television, making it more popular than the NFL SuperBowl and Formula 1 car racing. The race is particulaly popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and the Far East.
The Grand National is one of the oldest horse races in the world, it has been run each year since 1836 (Excluding the years during WW1 and WW2) the first winner of the race was a horse called 'The Duke'.
The international appeal of the race has seen a number of foreign breed horses triumph, most notable Irish horses have been the most successful in recent years, in 1938 the American horse 'Battleship' won the race, it should be no surprise to find out Battleship's father was the awesome race horse 'Man O'War'. It should be noted that French breed horses have the worst record in the race, just one winner in the last one hundred years.
The race has also featured in a number of movies, the best known being the 1944 movie 'National Velvet' a fictional account of a young girl disguising herself as a male jockey to get a ride in the race, at that time women jockeys were not allowed to enter the National - the part was played by Liz Taylor, who once quipped that her best leading man was a Horse! Today women jockeys are allowed to enter, the best finish by a woman in the race was in 1994 when Rosemary Henderson came 5th.
The English Grand National is considered one of the biggest sporting events in the United Kingdom alongside the F.A. Cup, The All English Tennis Championship (Wimbledon) and the Ashes Test Series. Because of this status the Grand National has been added to the list of government 'Protected Sport Events' these events must be shown on terrestrial T.V. channels and the broadcast rights cannot be sold domestically to Satellite broadcasters like Sky, Setanta Or Cable Channels.
It's remarkable to think now that the Grand National could have been omitted from the list. In 1973 the Grand National race was in serious trouble, under-investment at Aintree Grand National course meant that crowd numbers had dwindled to an at time low, and the owners of the course where looking to sell it off the land to a local property developer.
In 1973 the course was sold to the developer Bill Davies, who promised to keep the race running. The first National under Davies ownership saw admission prices to the Aintree course tripled, many in the press speculated that 1973 would be the last running of the great race.
Indeed, without the intervention of English bookmakers 'Ladbrokes' the 1973 race could have been the last. Ladbrokes started a campaign in that year to keep the race running, eventually Ladbrokes took over the running of the race and improved the course and facilities. It is doubtful if the motives for securing the future of the race where entirely altruistic on the part of Ladbrokes, when you consider a quarter of the U.K. population bet on the Grand National annually.
 
Sporting Events In The United Kingdom
  1. The Grand National
  2. English F.A. Cup
  3. Scottish F.A. Cup
  4. FIFA World Cup Finals
  5. Test Match Cricket (involving England)
  6. Wimbledon Tennis Championship
  7. The Derby
  8. Olympic Games
 
 

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