Watch This Fascinating History Of The Guy Fawkes Mask Associated With “Anonymous” & “V For Vendetta”

Guy Fawkes was born exactly 444 years ago on this date, April 13th, 1570.  Fawkes was a devoted loyalist to the Catholic Church — not exactly a safe position considering Catholics were being persecuted in England at the time.  In the early 1600s Fawkes joined a secret Catholic plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London by lacing the foundation of the building with gun powder.  On November 5th, 1605, the plot was discovered by British authorities, and Fawkes was taken into custody.  He was progressively tortured to the point where he confessed the names of his co-conspirators, and Brits have celebrated the foiling of the plot every November the Fifth with fireworks and bonfires ever since.  CBS Sunday Morning profiled the history of Fawkes and the iconic mask which has become associated with his name — a mask which has recently symbolized such movements as Anonymous, Occupy Wall Street, and more.