It's the 5th of November and here in the UK people are getting ready for bonfire night.

Tonight celebrations will include dazzling fireworks, toffee apples, carnival games,

and probably getting unpleasantly wet, cold and muddy.

For many people, the 5th of November has become disconnected from its historical context,

just a fun evening with family or friends.

Yet others may have spent the week building effigies of the most famous of the gunpowder plotters,

Guy Fawkes.

Tonight, those effigies will be thrown on bonfires,

but what exactly is being celebrated?

Welcome back to the Historic Royal Palace's podcast.

In today's episode, we're going to take you through the story of the gunpowder plot

from beginning to end,

with a re-release, the fascinating discussion I had with two colleagues back in 2022.

We hope you'll enjoy this two-part deep dive.

Please be aware, this episode contains themes which some listeners may find upsetting, including

religious persecution, torture and executions. To help me discuss this fascinating subject,

I'm joined by two of my wonderful colleagues, Brett and Olden, would you like to introduce

yourselves? Hello, well, I'm Olden Gregory. I am the curator of historic buildings at the Tower of London.

And hello, I'm Brett Dolman and I'm a curator mostly based at Hampton Court Palace,

but with an interest in the events of the 17th century and their legacy today.

Fantastic. Well, thank you for joining me in the studio today. Let's get

started. Brett, should we start with the basics? What exactly was the gunpowder plot? Well, in 1604,

...