Guy Fawkes

[mr_lewington]

Recently I looked I came across the 100 Greatest Britons and saw that Guy Fawkes was on the list as #30. After reading a book recently on the British Monarchy I remembered that he was part of the Gunpowder Plot whose goal was to destroy English Parliament, Kill the King and the ruling Protestants to install a Catholic King. I really cannot think why this would this man should be anywhere on the list let alone 30. What could possibly be the rationale behind this?

EDIT: Is it due to his signifigance?

 

[North King]

What's the list? If there are "evil" people on there throughout, then that could be why they'd include Fawkes.

 

[mr_lewington]

They don't seem too evil

Spoiler :

Sir Winston Churchill, (1874–1965), statesman and orator, Prime Minister during Second World War and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (1806–1859), engineer, creator of Great Western Railway and other significant works
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), first wife of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales (1981–1996) and mother of Princes William and Harry of Wales
Charles Darwin (1809–1882), naturalist, originator of the theory of evolution through natural selection and author of On the Origin of Species
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and playwright, thought of by many as the greatest of all writers in the English language
Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science
Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603), monarch, (reigned 1558–1603)
John Lennon (1940–1980), musician with The Beatles, philanthropist, peace activist, artist
Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), naval commander
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Lord Protector
Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922), polar explorer
Captain James Cook (1728–1779), explorer
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (1857–1941), founder of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides
Alfred the Great (849?–899), King of Wessex, (reigned 871–899)
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), military commander, statesman and Prime Minister 1828–1830 and 1834
Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (*3) (born 1925), Prime Minister (1979–1990)
Michael Crawford (born 1942), actor and singer
Queen Victoria (1819–1901), monarch (reigned 1837–1901)
Sir Paul McCartney (born 1942), musician with The Beatles, philanthropist, activist
Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), pharmaceutical innovator
Alan Turing (1912–1954), pioneer of computing
Michael Faraday (1791–1867), scientist
Owain Glyndŵr (1359–1416), Prince of Wales
Queen Elizabeth II (*10) (born 1926), reigning monarch (1952–present)
Professor Stephen Hawking (born 1942), theoretical physicist
William Tyndale (1494–1536), English translator of the Bible
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), suffragette
William Wilberforce (1759–1833), humanitarian
David Bowie (born 1947), musician
Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), English revolutionary
Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire (1917–1992), aviator and charity organiser
Eric Morecambe (1926–1984), comedian
David Beckham (*91) (born 1975), footballer
Thomas Paine (1737–1809), political philosopher
Boudica (died c.60), leader of Celtic resistance to the Roman Empire
Sir Steve Redgrave (born 1962), Olympic rower
Saint Thomas More (1478–1535), English saint, lawyer and politician
William Blake (1757–1827), author/poet, painter and printer
John Harrison (1693–1776), clock designer
King Henry VIII of England (1491–1547), monarch (reigned 1509–1547)
Charles Dickens (1812–1870), author
Sir Frank Whittle (1907–1996), jet engine inventor
John Peel (1939–2004), broadcaster
John Logie Baird (1888–1946), television pioneer
Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960), politician
Boy George (born 1961), musician with Culture Club
Sir Douglas Bader (1910–1982), aviator and charity campaigner
Sir William Wallace (c.1270–1305), Guardian of Scotland
Sir Francis Drake (c.1540–1596), English naval commander
John Wesley (1703–1791), founder of Methodism
King Arthur, legendary Celtic monarch
Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), nurse and charity campaigner
T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) (1888–1935), Arabist and soldier
Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), polar explorer
Enoch Powell (1912–1998), politician
Sir Cliff Richard (*29) (born 1940), musician
Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), telephone pioneer, placed 9th in the Canadian version
Freddie Mercury (1946–1991), musician with Queen
Dame Julie Andrews (born 1935), actress and singer
Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), composer
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900–2002), Queen consort
George Harrison (1943–2001), musician with The Beatles
Sir David Attenborough (born 1926), broadcaster
James Connolly (1868–1916), the Scottish born leader of the Irish 1916 rising
George Stephenson (1781–1848), railway pioneer
Sir Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), comic actor and film director
Tony Blair (*1) (born 1953), Prime Minister (1997–2007)
William Caxton (c.1415~1422–c.1492), English printer
Bobby Moore (1941–1993), footballer and Captain of England 1966 World Cup winning team
Jane Austen (1775–1817), author
William Booth (1829–1912), founder of Salvation Army
King Henry V of England (1387–1422), monarch (reigned 1413–1422)
Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), occultist, writer, and social provocateur; founder of Thelema
Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), King of Scots
Bob Geldof (born 1951), Irish musician
The Unknown Warrior, soldier of the Great War
Robbie Williams (*17) (born 1974), musician and former member of Take That
Edward Jenner (1749–1823), pioneer of vaccination
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George (1863–1945), Prime Minister (1916–1922)
Charles Babbage (1791–1871), mathematician and pioneer of computing
Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343–1400), English author
King Richard III of England (1452–1485), monarch (reigned 1483–1485)
J.K. Rowling (born 1965), author
James Watt (1736–1819), developer of the steam engine
Sir Richard Branson (*86) (born 1950), businessman and adventurer
Bono (born 1960), Irish musician - Singer for Rock Band U2, philanthropist
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) (born 1956), musician
Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976), military commander
Donald Campbell (1921–1967), water speed world record challenger
King Henry II of England (1133–1189), monarch (reigned 1154–1189)
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), physicist
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), author and philologist
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618), English explorer
King Edward I of England (1239–1307), monarch (reigned 1272–1307)
Sir Barnes Wallis (1887–1979), aviation technology pioneer
Richard Burton (1925–1984), actor 1
Tony Benn (born 1925), politician, formerly the 2nd Viscount Stangate
David Livingstone (1813–1873), missionary and explorer
Sir Tim Berners-Lee (born 1955), Internet pioneer and inventor of the World Wide Web
Marie Stopes (1880–1958), promoter of birth control

 

[silver 2039]

A better question is why in the name of Allah are these people on it?

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), first wife of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales (1981–1996) and mother of Princes William and Harry of Wales
J.K. Rowling (born 1965), author
Boy George (born 1961), musician with Culture Club
David Beckham (*91) (born 1975), footballer

 

[Dachs]

Why in the name of Carl XI is Diana ahead of Shakespeare?

 

[silver 2039]

Boudicia is below David Beckham. This is a travesty.

 

[mr_lewington]

So is Rowling being ahead of Tolkien. (On a much smaller scale obviously)

HP < LotR

 

[Mad Man]

Guy Fawkes was a pimp

 

[RalofTyr]

Guy Fawkes was a pimp

And Drawn and Quartered.

 

[Tee Kay]

So is Rowling being ahead of Tolkien. (On a much smaller scale obviously)

HP < LotR

Why in the name of Carl XI is Diana ahead of Shakespeare?

A better question is why in the name of Allah are these people on it?

It's one of those lists voted by the public.

 

[Yeekim]

It's one of those lists voted by the public.

/thread

 

[aronnax]

Hmm, I dont know 45 out of 100 people on the list. Many of them who happen to be pop icons.

 

[privatehudson]

This is what happens when you let the public vote on something. You can't even rely on them to get names on the list that are actually British (last time I checked Bono was Irish and isn't Geldof as well?) or pick people whose life is over so it can be evaluated better.

 

[Longus]

I think this is related to a TV poll they held a few years ago, which, for some bizarre reason, included Irish nationals iirc.

But come on, Guy Fawkes was awesome and you know it. Sure if he'd succeeded everyone would hate him (or maybe not, since I guess there would have been a Catholic monarch oppressing any Protestants who tried), but since he was caught everyone loves (to hate) him! What could be more fun than blowing up a small part of your garden every winter in celebration of his failed rebellion? That rascal

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Remember remember, the Fifth of November...

Guy Fawkes is probably remembered as a great Briton for the same reason that Robert E. Lee is as an American; he fought for what he, and many of his countrymen, believed in, and against what they felt was the world "moving forward too fast" and leaving their traditional values behind. For Fawkes and the rest of the plotters, that was a Catholic state (and Head of aforementioned State). I'm by no means defending them trying to blow up Parliament et al, of course, apart from my embedded American approval of the dethroning of monarchs.

 

[mr_lewington]

But from what I understand, he wasn't in charge of the plot.

 

[privatehudson]

The world had already moved too fast, only one of the plotters had ever lived under a Catholic monarch of England, and that for only 3 years. What the gunpowder plotters got up to is far more comparable to the antics of the KKK in the years after the Civil War (or even given the time frame after its revival) than Lee's service during it. Even then the comparison hardly does justice to what was lets face it an attempted act of terrorism.

 

[privatehudson]

But from what I understand, he wasn't in charge of the plot.

No he wasn't the leader, he was basically the military expert amongst the group and the only one with extensive experience with explosives, which explains why it was Fawkes rather than say Catesby who was caught trying to set off the gunpowder.

 

[philippe]

I blame the idiots at a certain website for this.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Right, he was the one responsible for making sure the gunpowder went off, and seeing as the guards searched the place on account of an anonymous tip (from a member of Parliament anonymously advised not to show up for work that day), Fawkes was the one they found.