What do Britons think of - and know about - Guy Fawkes? | YouGov

For over 400 years, since 5 November 1605, Britons have marked the thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot and capture of Guy Fawkes with annual firework displays, bonfires and burning of effigies.

Bonfire Night has its roots in sectarian anger at the plotters’ desire to assassinate the Protestant King James I and reestablish a Catholic monarchy. To Protestants, Guy Fawkes was a traitor to the Crown; to the Catholic minority, he became a martyr who had fought to end their persecution.

For most Britons today, the fifth of November is much more of a light-hearted celebration and opinions on Guy Fawkes have somewhat softened, with four in ten (39%) having a favourable opinion of Fawkes, against a third (32%) who see him unfavourably.

A positive view of Guy Fawkes is most common among Reform UK voters, 55% of whom have a favourable opinion of him, against only 22% with an unfavourable view. This contrasts with supporters of other political parties who are evenly divided in their opinion of Fawkes, with the Conservatives splitting 41-41% and Labour 38-35%.

Nonetheless, only one in six Britons (16%) consider Guy Fawkes to be a heroic figure, with a similar number (18%) viewing him as more of a villain. Half of the public (52%) instead see Fawkes as neither a hero nor a villain.

Those who have a very favourable view of Guy Fawkes are the group who most decisively come down on one side, with six in ten (59%) seeing him as a villain. This compares to 43% of those with a very unfavourable view of Fawkes seeing him as a villain.

But while many may have a vague folk knowledge of Guy Fawkes, do the British public actually know what he did and why he did it?

Seven in ten Britons (71%) say they are confident that they know what he stood for, including nearly a quarter (23%) saying they are very confident.

Of course, though, somebody saying that they are confident that they know something is not the same as them actually knowing it. So, to test, we asked Britons, as far as they were aware, seven statements about Guy Fawkes were true or false.

For four of the questions, most Britons gave a correct answer. The idea that Guy Fawkes acted alone was rightly identified as false by 74% of Britons; that he attempted to blow up Parliament while the King was present was known to be true by 71%; that it was false that Fawkes was an MP by 65%; and that he was tortured for days after capture was recognised as true by 54% of Britons. In all four cases, no more than 10% of the public gave the incorrect answer.

Where fewer Britons were correct was on Guy Fawkes’ motivations. Just 44% of Britons correctly identified that he wanted to stop the persecution of Catholics, though only one in nine (11%) incorrectly stated it was false.

For two of the statements, more Britons answered incorrectly than correctly. They are most likely to wrongly think that Fawkes wanted to abolish the monarchy (44%), with only 24% recognising this as false.

Likewise, a third of Britons (34%) mistakenly believe that Guy Fawkes was an anarchist, compared to only 27% who correctly labelled the statement as false. This is, however, true of the Guy Fawkes-inspired character ‘V’ in the popular graphic novel, ‘V for Vendetta’ – on which the movie of the same name was based – the depiction of who in turn has inspired various anarchist groups, most notably through the use of the Guy Fawkes mask.

Overall, only 7% of Britons are able to answer all seven true or false questions correctly, including just 14% of those who said they are very confident that they know what Guy Fawkes stood for. Most Britons (54%), though, did get at least four answers correct.

Those who got all seven questions correct have a stronger tendency to see Guy Fawkes in a negative light, with 28% of the perfect scorers seeing him as a villain, notably more than the 11% who see him as a hero. Those who did not get seven-out-of-seven are evenly split, with one in six (17%) each seeing Fawkes as a hero and a villain.

One of the longest established Bonfire Night traditions is the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes. In some places, most notably the Sussex town of Lewes, this practice is sometimes extended to include the burning of effigies of contemporary political figures, regularly sparking controversy.

Only 28% of Britons think it is acceptable to burn effigies of current political figures on bonfire night, against 57% who see such burnings as unacceptable. This compares to 52% of the public who feel it is acceptable to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, which is only seen as unacceptable by 24% of Britons.

Reform UK voters are noticeably more likely to see burning effigies of current politicians as okay, being split evenly between 47% who see it as acceptable and 46% who view it as unacceptable. Among Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem voters, the proportion seeing it as unacceptable (61%-70%) is consistently at least twice the proportion seeing it as acceptable (24-30%).

See the full results here

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Photo: Getty