Bonfire Night in the 70s: 15 Things You'd Never Get Away With Now

Bonfire Night in 1970s Britain, from the first branch dragged to the waste ground in October to the last sparkler in the bucket: the Guy and his pram, fireworks from the corner shop, the Firework Code, treacle toffee and parkin, and fifteen things that have quietly gone. Every fact is checked against the sources below. Which one do you remember? And who was in charge of the matches in your house? Tell me in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 The fifth of November 0:48 The weeks before: the bonfire, the Guy, the corner shop 5:12 The night: the garden display, the Firework Code, sparklers and bangers 8:43 Bonfire food: toffee, parkin, potatoes and black peas 10:02 What changed: displays, laws, Halloween, the morning after 11:37 Goodbye to all that Subscribe for a new film every week. Next in the series: A Saturday in 1980s Britain. ABOUT THIS CHANNEL Britain, Remembered tells the social history of everyday life in the 1960s-90s through objects, places and routines. Research, photographs and original illustrations. New films every week. SOURCES London Museum, "Penny for the Guy?: A lost Bonfire Night tradition" Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, Standard Fireworks Brocks Fireworks (Wikipedia, citing Watford Observer 2005 and Firework Art 2005) East Fife Mail, 1 November 1978, p. 2 (the Firework Code) Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, firework and sparkler safety The Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/2294), legislation.gov.uk The Fireworks Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1836), regs 7 and 9, legislation.gov.uk Parkin (cake) (Wikipedia, citing Stead et al., Traditional Food East and West of the Pennines, 1991) Black peas (Wikipedia) National Library of Wales, Geoff Charles Collection (photographs) Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. PHOTOGRAPHS (credited on screen; full list in the pinned comment) Wikimedia Commons: Alan Murray-Rust (CC BY-SA 2.0) (intro) Lewis Hulbert (CC BY-SA 4.0) (intro) Andrew Dunn (CC BY-SA 2.0) A-M-Jervis (CC BY-SA 2.0) Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent (CC BY 3.0) Crispijn van de Passe the Elder (Public domain) David Lally (CC BY-SA 2.0) Dominic Winsor from Southampton, United Kingdom (CC BY-SA 2.0) Donald Trung Quoc Don (CC BY-SA 4.0) Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye (Public domain) Fred C. Palmer (died 1936-1939) (Public domain) Gabriel Pollard (CC BY-SA 2.5) Gareth James (CC BY-SA 2.0) Geoff Charles (CC BY-SA 4.0) Glen Bowman from Newcastle, England (CC BY-SA 2.0) Greudin (Public domain) HelenOnline (CC BY-SA 3.0) High Contrast (CC BY 3.0 de) Humphrey Bolton (CC BY-SA 2.0) Lewis Clarke (CC BY-SA 2.0) Martin Pettitt from Bury St Edmunds, UK (CC BY 2.0) N Chadwick (CC BY-SA 2.0) Neil Theasby (CC BY-SA 2.0) Paul-Vincent Roll (CC BY-SA 3.0) Pauline E (CC BY-SA 2.0) Peter Trimming (CC BY-SA 2.0) Peter van der Sluijs (CC BY-SA 3.0) Ramesh NG (CC BY-SA 2.0) Richard Croft (CC BY-SA 2.0) Richard Humphrey (CC BY-SA 2.0) Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom (CC BY 2.0) Spider.Dog (CC BY-SA 2.0) TCExplorer (CC BY-SA 2.0) The wub (CC BY-SA 4.0) Thomas Henwood (CC0) Tony Whelan (Deceased) (CC BY-SA 2.0) ToyahAnette B (Public domain) Unknown. (Public domain) Warfieldian (CC BY-SA 3.0) kallerna (CC BY-SA 3.0) mattbuck (category) (CC BY-SA 3.0)