What Is The Connection?

2012 Lance Armstrong, 2011 Mario Balotelli, 2010 Wayne Rooney, 2009 Katie Price, 2008 Jonathan Ross, 2007 Cherie Blair, 2006 John McRirick and finally going back a few more years to 1981 Margaret Thatcher.

As far Back as the 1980’s the good folk of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society in Kent have been targeting celebrities in the news and recreating them in a “spitting image” way as huge effigies to be burnt at the stake on Bonfire night with a crowd usually around 20,000, which is pretty good when you consider the population of Edenbridge is a mere 8,000.

Lance Armstrong the tour-de-France winning cyclist earned his place in history this year after he was caught cheating when traces of performance-enhancing drugs were found in his system. After a lengthy investigation, he was stripped of the Bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the seven tour-de-France titles and was disqualified from all races made after 1^st August 1998.

Pictured wearing a now controversial “Jim fixed it for me” badge the 30-foot representation narrowly beat other options which were deemed to be “too volatile”, these were Abu Hamza, George Osbourne, and the disgraced Jimmy Saville.

In 2011 Mario Balotelli famously lit fireworks in a bathroom and was then made an ambassador for firework safety campaign, which just goes to prove what a weird world we sometimes live in.

Back in 2010, Wayne Rooney was overheard discussing his wishes to leave Manchester United and a 49-foot creation was commissioned complete with “shrek” ears.

Katie Price was in the news in 2009 after her love life became public (after she appeared in OK Magazine) with both Peter Andre and Cage Fighter Alex Reid fighting for her affections and subsequently incinerated, BNP member Nick Griffin narrowly escaped also being targeted but was dropped as a candidate due the “political implications”.

We have to go a long way back to 1981 when a 40-foot puppet of Margaret Thatcher was burnt at the stake just two years into her eleven years in office as Prime Minister.

Which leads me on to the crux of the matter - who would you burn on the bonfire? If you had the resources to make a forty foot life like the resemblance of anyone, who would it be?

For over 400 years we have traditionally burnt old clothes stuffed full or rags and made to resemble Guy Fawkes, just one of the conspirators. Are we being a bit unfair or is it about time we moved on and targeted more worthy causes? Would this detract from the real reason we celebrate Bonfire night and reflect on the plot of 1605 ensuring it never happens again?

If you have any ideas who you would like to recreate we would love to know and may form a chart list if we get enough suggestions.