Saturday Morning Beard Fact

A plethora of facial hair can be observed on the faces of those men who plotted to blow up  King James I. Guido Fawkes (he preferred the exotic ‘Guido’ to the more pedestrian ‘Guy’) and his co-conspirators were immortalised in a group portrait after their plan was foiled. The dramatic image by an unknown artist, depicts eight men, all of whom look shifty and wear large beards that point out sharply from their faces, like the pointy chins of Venetian masks. They also have twirled moustaches that would have made Errol Flynn envious. The inference to be drawn from this image is that all Catholics were overtly bearded and not to be trusted.

Source: Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, Lucinda Hawksley