Fawkes, Guy, 1570 - 1606

Ellery Queen

This was at the same time the name of a fictional detective (a) and also the pen-name (b) of the two authors, Frederick Dannay (1905-1071) and Manfred Lee (b. 1905). The books written by "Ellery Queen" are about Ellery Queen, an American playboy writer of detective stories (c). who keeps getting involved in mysteries (d) himself. He first appeared in The Roman Hat Mystery in 1929, and in many later books. He was also the hero of several films made between 1935 and 1943, and Peter Lawford starred in a television series based on the books in 1971. Ellery Queen (the author) also founded a Mystery Magazine, which was a popular outlet for detective stories by other writers.

Match each word and phrase on the left with the correct definition on the right.

a) a detective 1.a name used by an author instead of a real name

b) a pen-name 2.a police officer whose job is to investigate a crime

c) a detective story 3.sth. of which the cause or origin is impossible to

explain or understand

d) a mystery and the 4.one in which the main interest is crime process of solving it

Guy Fawkes is the best known member of the gang which planned Gunpowder plot of 1605. The originators of the plot were Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy and John Wright. Fawkes was only brought in later by Catesby, who knew of his reputation for courage. All were Roman Catholics and their plan was to destroy James I and his Protestant parliament by blowing them up. Percy rented a house next to parliament and later the cellar below the House of Lords. There Fawkes hid thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, covering them with wood and coal. The plot was discovered when one of the conspirators sent a letter to Lord Monteagle in October 1605 asking him not to attend the opening of parliament on 5th November. Suspicions were aroused and on the night of 4th November Fawkes was arrested in the cellar. He had been given the task of lighting the fuse to set off the explosion. Tortured, he refused to give the names of his fellow conspirators until they had either been killed or captured. He was executed by hanging on 31st January 1606.

Find in the text the words that mean:

- a group of criminals;

- a secret plan to do sth.;

- destroying sth. using explosives;

- a feeling of doubt or mistrust;

- a group of people involved in a secret operation;

- to cause intense suffering to sb.

20. Guess the name of the character.

A doctor and member of the French Legislative Assembly, he suggested the use of the guillotine for executions in 1789. The guillotine consists of a heavy blade with a diagonal edge, which falls between two upright posts to cut off the victim's head cleanly and quickly. Similar machines had been used in various other countries including Scotland and Italy. His main idea was to make execution as quick and painless as possible. The first person executed by guillotine was the highwayman Pelletier in 1792, but the machine came into its own in 1793, during the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution, when aristocrats were guillotined by the hundred. It is still the official means of execution in France.

21. Guess the name of the character.

The most famous of English outlaws, he was first mentioned in the second edition of William Langland's epic poem Piers Plowman in about 1377. His legend has grown steadily ever since. He is the great popular hero, robbing

the rich to help the poor, and defying evil King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. He is supposed to have lived in Sherwood Forest, dressed in Lincoln Green, with his Merry Men who included Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett, Alan a Dale - and of course, Maid Marion (almost certainly a sixteenth century invention and addition to the legend). While there is probably some truth in the stories, it is impossible to decide if he was a real person or how many of his adventures are true, or just fiction. Many versions of this legend have been produced and he was a natural hero for both films and television.

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