Stephanie Simpson, age 14, of Danville, I11., for her question:

WHO WAS GUY FAWKES?

Almost 400 years ago, on Nov. 5, 1605, a plan called the Gunpowder Plot was laid out in England by a group headed by Robert Catsby and Guy Fawkes. The plan was to blow up the English House of Parliament when King James I was to be present. The group resented the hostile attitude of the government toward Roman Catholicism.

But the plan didn't work out. The plot was discovered and most of the group members were killed. Public hostility toward Catholics increased in England.

Guy Fawkes was hanged in 1606, and today England observes Guy Fawkes Day every Nov. 5. At the annual festival each year, Fawkes is burned in effigy.

Fawkes was born in York, England, and served in the Spanish army from 1593 to 1604.