Virtual bonfire

Devon townspeople have enjoyed what is believed to be the first "virtual" bonfire night. Despite the cold and no prospect of a fire to warm them, 1,400 Ilfracombe people turned out to see a projection of a fire.

But the spectacular fireworks were real, all 2,500 of them.

The bizarre bonfire, on a 22ft by 15ft screen, was created by the local rugby club because of the red tape involved in staging a real blaze. No-one had banned a real bonfire, but it would have required dealing with an "insane" amount of paperwork, said club president Paul Crabb.

The concerns over the cost of meeting health and safety regulations come after an incident four years ago at a nearby football club when left-over fireworks were thrown onto a bonfire.

Club secretary Jane Perrin said: "It is so cold we could have done with some real flames, but at least it looks warming. Even the sound of the flames came over the PA system. It has all worked beautifully."

(Bonfire Night is celebrated across the UK on 5 November. The date marks the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament by Guy Fawkes1 along with a group of co-conspirators in London in 1605.

The intention was to kill King James I and wipe out everyone in government. The group were Catholic extremists who wanted to return England to the Catholic faith. One of the conspirators had a friend in the Houses of Parliament and sent a letter to him, warning him to stay away from the House on the day the attack was supposed to take place. The letter was intercepted and handed to the king.

Meanwhile, Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the 'Gunpowder Plot', had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.)Children make life-sized effigies of Guy Fawkes which are called Guys, to put onto the bonfires. The English have been burning effigies to mark Guy Fawkes' treason for almost 400 years. The tradition started in 1606, the year after the Gunpowder plot failed. In these first bonfires, called 'bone fires' at the time, it wasn't an effigy of Guy Fawkes that was burned, but one of the Pope. It was not until 1806, two centuries later, that the people started burning effigies of Guy Fawkes instead.