On behalf of the Lord Speaker I visited Dauntsey’s School, near Devizes in Wiltshire, at the end of last week. Invited many months ago I rashly suggested that “Bring Back Guy Fawkes?” was a suitable November discussion-starter for Year 12/13, but that I would tread more delicately with a theme for the later lecture of Commons & Lords working together to hold the Government to account. This last proved quite a challenge, as the day drew closer, first because I discovered that last year’s lecturer was Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, and second because I am accustomed to extemporise to suit the mood of the audience rather preparing a complete text. I was reassured nearer the day that a perfectly crafted poetic screed was not expected or required.
Indeed, I need not have been so alarmed. I got a great welcome from the Essay Society for the early evening discussion, who proved encouragingly inquisitive. They were topically briefed, one female student wanting to know all about the newly-created Speaker’s Conference inquiry into the relative lack of women in politics, for example. The discussion continued through an excellent meal. And then we found some 70 pupils, staff and friends had turned out to hear the “Mercers’ Lecture”, so called after the founder of the School, Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers William Dauntsey. By happy coincidence I was intending to touch on the effect of architecture on our behaviour, citing the availability of the redundant St Stephens Chapel in 1550 for the location of the Commons as the reason for opposing banks of confrontational pews as the reason for the illogical seating pattern for our MPs. I had then discovered that this was almost the precise date for the foundation of Dauntsey’s. No doubt, in the immediate aftermath of the Reformation there were plenty of redundant religious buildings but also a severe lack of schools. A very lively discussion followed.
And Mr Guido Fawkes? The historians present agreed with me that the 17th Century terrorist threat came at a very convenient time for the Court team that James had inherited from Elizabeth, who were scared stiff of any concessions to the Catholics. Were any of the government spies of the day infiltrating into the conspirators plotting, or was it just a case of clever spinning after Fawkes was framed? We came to three tentative conclusions: one, that it was wise to maintain the tradition of searching the cellars before the State Opening next week; two, that it would be necessary to rearrange MPs’ seating if ever the Commons caught up with the spread of opinion in the public; and three, that the modern day Guido was probably just as much of a ignorant fall guy as his namesake.
“and three, that the modern day Guido was probably just as much of a ignorant fall guy as his namesake…”
Hmm.. If you are going to accuse someone else of being ignorant, best try to avoid making basic grammatical errors.. – Just a thought…
Hmmm.
This will be the first time in perhaps five comments when I will reveal a bit of myself to the readers of the Lords of the Blog at a personal level. I am like most people in that I can be described in at least a few different ways. Such a statement is more true of me than of most people but perhaps not Lord Norton.
I was born to an old web of old families in one of few parts of the southern United States which has always had a Roman Catholic majority and where that majority also included most of the wealth and political clout. When I was a wee lad my father studied at the University of London and I lived there. Had I been born a bit earlier there would have been lots of official “Whites Only” signs in my hometown. However, while I learned to read at two those signs were down by then. When I went to London there were notices about reading “Irish, Catholics and Asians Need Not Apply” that was my first exposure to officialy tolerated exclusion of groups from publicly accessible services and spaces. When the teachers told the story of Guy Fawkes I got the idea that the main point was that good English kids should despise Catholics. Such an emotion I had encountered in speech but not towards Catholics. I of course know of thousands of cases of violence between Christians of varied communions over centuries. This is not a moral lesson really. It simply might be said that I remember that part of life in London just as clearly as any of its glories that did — honestly –impress me. In the intervening forty years I have been to many countries but not yet returned to Merry Old England. Of course England does fine without my tourist dollars.
I am merely presuming on my cyber-acquaintance with Lord Norton to give a different view of the Guy Fawkes celebration. Perhaps an unwelcome presumption.
I made the error of confusing this post with Lord Norton;s reply to the post above. If the post I placed is published then I must hope my apology to Lord Tyler for calling him Lord Norton will be published too. I hope they get on well but I did not mean to confuse them. I was careless and sloppy, sorry.
The Catholicism of Guy Fawkes was never stressed too strongly when I learned about it as a wee lad. However, I have long since reached an age where the burning of anyone in effigy strikes me as quite poor taste if nothing else, and the bigoted overtones don’t really add anything to that.
I like an excuse for a big old fire and a load of fireworks as much as anyone, but I rather wish we could effectively separate the 5th of November from its anti-Catholic roots.