WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en Style: ::cue(c.colorEEEEEE) { color: rgb(238,238,238); } ::cue(c.cyan) { color: cyan; } ::cue(c.yellow) { color: yellow; } ## 1 00:00:00.071 --> 00:00:04.225 Across Britain, a lot of towns and villages have all sorts of strange, old traditions 2 00:00:04.225 --> 00:00:06.411 for Bonfire Night, on November the 5th. 3 00:00:06.411 --> 00:00:08.924 Most of those traditions involve fire, pyrotechnics, 4 00:00:08.924 --> 00:00:11.691 and a significant chance of personal injury to anyone taking part. 5 00:00:11.691 --> 00:00:15.590 And I've never shown any of those traditions on this channel before, for a few reasons. 6 00:00:15.590 --> 00:00:18.410 First, most of them have already been well-documented. 7 00:00:18.410 --> 00:00:21.717 Second, a lot of the towns actually prefer to keep their traditions quiet, 8 00:00:21.717 --> 00:00:24.086 because they already deal with too many tourists. 9 00:00:24.086 --> 00:00:27.029 Like a lot of things, mass media and easy travel have started to ruin 10 00:00:27.029 --> 00:00:29.761 what might be centuries-old practices in the towns. 11 00:00:29.761 --> 00:00:31.072 And third... 12 00:00:31.072 --> 00:00:33.591 Well, I've never actually been invited to take part before. 13 00:00:33.591 --> 00:00:35.829 This is Bridgwater, in southwest England, 14 00:00:35.829 --> 00:00:40.084 and today, I'll be holding a terrifying amount of pyrotechnics directly above my head, 15 00:00:40.084 --> 00:00:42.755 in a big parade with a couple of hundred other people. 16 00:00:42.755 --> 00:00:44.030 This isn't going to be a normal video, 17 00:00:44.030 --> 00:00:46.051 because honestly, I'm not really sure what happens next. 18 00:00:46.051 --> 00:00:48.699 I have no script beyond this point. They just said, 19 00:00:48.699 --> 00:00:51.041 "Do you want to be in the squibbing display?" And... 20 00:00:51.041 --> 00:00:52.790 I said yes. 21 00:00:52.790 --> 00:00:54.442 This is a Bridgwater squib. 22 00:00:54.442 --> 00:00:57.950 It's a Category 4 firework, so it should only be used in displays. 23 00:00:57.950 --> 00:01:00.077 People obviously have had the Health and Safety training, 24 00:01:00.077 --> 00:01:01.992 like everybody that does it in the street tonight. 25 00:01:01.992 --> 00:01:03.540 It's not available to the general public, 26 00:01:03.540 --> 00:01:06.608 and this specific one is made only for Bridgwater Carnival. 27 00:01:06.608 --> 00:01:09.389 In here is about a pound of gunpowder. 28 00:01:09.389 --> 00:01:11.386 (laughs) Okay. And various metallic elements. 29 00:01:11.386 --> 00:01:14.871 So you got iron, titanium... All stuff that's gonna spark. 30 00:01:14.871 --> 00:01:17.791 Phosphorus, lots of phosphorus metal, so exactly right. 31 00:01:17.791 --> 00:01:20.548 So you get the heat burning from the gunpowder initially, 32 00:01:20.548 --> 00:01:23.046 which heats up the metal, and that flies, comes out, 33 00:01:23.046 --> 00:01:26.698 and then gives you the golds, the silvers, as the heated elements come out the top. 34 00:01:26.698 --> 00:01:30.001 So I'm gonna be holding a large chunk of 35 00:01:30.001 --> 00:01:32.808 flaming gunpowder and metal dust above my head. 36 00:01:32.808 --> 00:01:35.230 Yeah, two feet above your head. Okay! 37 00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:37.936 Along with 250 other people. Alright! 38 00:01:37.936 --> 00:01:39.746 This is the cosh. This is the cosh, right. 39 00:01:39.746 --> 00:01:42.522 As you can see, it's a glorified broom handle, in a way. 40 00:01:42.522 --> 00:01:44.605 It's obviously changed over the years. 41 00:01:44.605 --> 00:01:47.189 You can see various different-shaped ones through the back there. 42 00:01:47.189 --> 00:01:50.000 But this one is quite old. This one is probably... 43 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.846 60-70 years old, that one. 44 00:01:51.846 --> 00:01:53.152 Blimey, really? Yeah. 45 00:01:53.152 --> 00:01:55.799 My dad had it from the club. He was well off with them. 46 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:58.801 A lot of these get handed on from generation to generation. 47 00:01:58.801 --> 00:01:59.719 Wow, okay. 48 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:02.416 So... 60-year-old cosh, and it's having... 49 00:02:02.416 --> 00:02:04.704 I mean, some explosives tied to it. 50 00:02:04.704 --> 00:02:05.636 Let's do it. 51 00:02:05.636 --> 00:02:07.419 So, if you will hold it... 52 00:02:07.419 --> 00:02:08.842 Yeah. Like that. 53 00:02:08.842 --> 00:02:11.702 They were roped on for generations. 54 00:02:11.702 --> 00:02:14.723 But rope... tends to stretch. 55 00:02:14.723 --> 00:02:17.740 Years ago, they used to have a banging, which was a fire at the end. 56 00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:21.790 Which, we can't have an aerial anymore. We're not allowed to fire things up into the air. 57 00:02:21.790 --> 00:02:24.692 Okay. I mean, we are on a High Street. It doesn't seem unreasonable(!) 58 00:02:24.692 --> 00:02:27.472 It's like, any of these traditional, regional things that 59 00:02:27.472 --> 00:02:31.296 it wouldn't be allowed if you were to ask anywhere else in the world to do it now. 60 00:02:31.296 --> 00:02:33.668 In England in particular, they would not allow it. 61 00:02:33.668 --> 00:02:35.830 How do you keep it safe then? 'Cause obviously, there's a lot of gunpowder, 62 00:02:35.830 --> 00:02:37.841 and there's gonna be crowds around in the street. 63 00:02:37.841 --> 00:02:41.831 Firstly, you'll be fully kitted out in PPE. So you'll have always full protection on. 64 00:02:41.831 --> 00:02:43.385 When we leave here and we line you up, 65 00:02:43.385 --> 00:02:46.596 you'll be carrying this out with your gloved hand over the fuse. 66 00:02:46.596 --> 00:02:49.217 So it's held like that over your shoulder. 67 00:02:50.554 --> 00:02:53.884 This is a bag of lighting wads. It's soaked in fluid. 68 00:02:53.884 --> 00:02:55.956 Lighter fluid. Blue roll in lighter fluid. Yeah, okay. 69 00:02:55.956 --> 00:02:57.614 We place those down the middle of the street. 75 00:02:57.614 --> 00:02:58.284 Yep. 71 00:02:58.284 --> 00:03:01.622 And once I'm happy that they're all in place, I sound a horn. 72 00:03:01.622 --> 00:03:04.853 The lighters from each club will light these wads. 73 00:03:04.853 --> 00:03:07.957 So you'll see a seam of fire going down through the centre of the road. 74 00:03:07.957 --> 00:02:57.614 Then you just pull off the safety cover. 75 00:02:57.614 --> 00:02:58.284 Yep. 76 00:03:12.179 --> 00:03:14.563 And again, once those wads are lit, down through the road, 77 00:03:14.563 --> 00:03:17.213 and you hear the second horn... The second horn, okay. 78 00:03:17.213 --> 00:03:18.876 First horn, safety cover off. 79 00:03:18.876 --> 00:03:23.453 Yeah, all you do is dip your fuse straight into the lighting fluid. 80 00:03:23.453 --> 00:03:25.587 It'll fire straight away. Yep. 81 00:03:25.587 --> 00:03:27.963 And then vertical, up above your head at arm's length. 82 00:03:27.963 --> 00:03:28.815 Right. 83 00:03:28.815 --> 00:03:30.794 It sounds very simple, but it will seem a lot— 84 00:03:30.794 --> 00:03:34.990 It doesn't sound that simple! That's a lot of gunpowder very near my head! 85 00:03:34.990 --> 00:03:36.869 That is very true, but you'll be fine. 86 00:03:36.869 --> 00:03:40.001 You'll enjoy it, honestly, but it will seem longer than a minute(!) 87 00:03:40.581 --> 00:03:42.144 Squibbing today is historic. 88 00:03:42.144 --> 00:03:45.201 It's been part of the tradition of Bridgwater, going back to the 1600s. 89 00:03:45.201 --> 00:03:47.429 Almost 430 years-ish now, 90 00:03:47.429 --> 00:03:49.686 there's been a squibbing of one form or another. 91 00:03:49.686 --> 00:03:53.811 It's all to do with the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and the failure of Guy Fawkes. 92 00:03:53.811 --> 00:03:56.072 People had a bonfire, they threw the effigy on it, 93 00:03:56.072 --> 00:03:58.391 and they used to have fireworks around the pubs. 94 00:03:58.391 --> 00:03:59.573 And that's how it started. 95 00:03:59.573 --> 00:04:01.326 We're on the move. 96 00:04:01.326 --> 00:04:04.036 Back then, they'd make their own fireworks at home, 97 00:04:04.036 --> 00:04:07.455 which was lots of wads of paper, and of course, they're very volatile. 98 00:04:07.455 --> 00:04:10.344 A lot of them exploded. People were killed over the years. 99 00:04:10.344 --> 00:04:13.999 And then, groups in the pubs then started to have a theme, they'd dress up. 100 00:04:13.999 --> 00:04:18.565 So Carnival was born from that, but the squibbing was the start of it. 101 00:04:18.565 --> 00:04:22.735 And then coming right up to modern day, post-Second World War onwards, 102 00:04:22.735 --> 00:04:24.152 we've had organized displays. 103 00:04:24.152 --> 00:04:26.965 Obviously, the finale after the Carnival procession is the squibbing event. 104 00:04:26.965 --> 00:04:28.315 Light the wads! 105 00:04:28.315 --> 00:04:30.519 We have got the opportunity to set a record. 106 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.106 The 400th anniversary in 2005 107 00:04:33.106 --> 00:04:36.279 of the failed Gunpowder Plot, we had 180. 108 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:38.317 So I said, "Let's try and get 200." 109 00:04:38.317 --> 00:04:40.678 And the clubs have been great, for we got 250. 110 00:04:40.678 --> 00:04:42.218 Okay, now I'm nervous. 111 00:04:46.362 --> 00:04:52.020 ...from ten, nine, eight, seven, six, 112 00:04:52.020 --> 00:04:57.084 five, four, three, two, one. 113 00:04:57.084 --> 00:04:59.375 Light those squibs! 114 00:05:11.278 --> 00:05:13.859 Stand well back, ladies and gentlemen. 115 00:05:13.859 --> 00:05:15.249 Make sure you're safe. 116 00:05:16.766 --> 00:05:18.589 Absolutely fantastic! 117 00:05:20.776 --> 00:05:22.533 And you can see these coloured squibs. 118 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:26.617 You can see these coloured squibs in the middle. 119 00:05:26.617 --> 00:05:29.340 Squibbing is unique to Bridgwater. It's unique to Bridgwater Carnival. 120 00:05:29.340 --> 00:05:31.612 It's the biggest illuminated carnival in Europe, 121 00:05:31.612 --> 00:05:33.332 and probably second or third in the whole world. 122 00:05:33.332 --> 00:05:35.850 So it is something special, and squibbing is a big part of that. 123 00:05:37.132 --> 00:05:40.582 Thank you very much indeed, ladies and gentlemen! 124 00:05:40.582 --> 00:05:42.981 We sincerely hope that next year, 125 00:05:42.981 --> 00:05:45.000 we'll have a proper Carnival back on the streets of Bridgwater. 126 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.309 [Caption+ by JS* https://caption.plus] 127 00:05:46.309 --> 00:05:48.380 Have a good journey home, 128 00:05:48.380 --> 00:05:52.493 and we'll see you back here next year on the streets of Bridgwater, 129 00:05:52.493 --> 00:05:56.290 on Saturday, the 5th of November! 130 00:05:56.290 --> 00:05:57.761 Woo-hoo!