From her initial inspiration at the hands of Stephen Fry to diagnosis with stage four cancer, Vicki MacPhail’s “mission to educate the world as much as possible about what a fantastic friend and true soldier Guy Fawkes was” has been far from straightforward.
Her interest in the subject came about almost by chance, “It started in 2009 when I was working and living in Scarborough. And I was watching that program QI. Stephen Fry looked at the camera and he said in York, in the shadow of the minster is a small church called St Michael of Belfrey and that’s where Guy Fawkes was christened. I decided that [on] my next day off I would go and see if I could find this church — and then I just sort of fell in love.”
Vicki’s ‘Story of Guy Fawkes’ tours are now a firm favourite on the streets of York. While she doesn’t excite with gruesome descriptions of gory executions or dress up in a black cape and bowler hat, her tour is honest, truthful and comes from a place of genuine interest in the figure of Guy Fawkes himself— developed through a decade of trouble and recovery living in York.
In 2013 she first decided to move to the city to live closer to Paul — a friend she’d met at the Guy Fawkes Inn on High Petergate during one of her early visits.
“I was so excited, so happy to be seeing Paul again [that] I paid six months rent upfront. Unfurnished, so you know, I just had the essentials I had the radio and a kettle. And a spoon and a mug. Within two weeks, my best friend suddenly dropped dead. I had no job and no money — that’s when I started to turn to the gin bottle.”
The next two years of her life were so shaped by struggles with addiction that she was soon unable to even pay rent — and had to take up accommodation in a hostel for the homeless. A week later an MRI scan revealed she was suffering from stage four cancer.
“I’ve made quite a few inquiries but not come across anyone else that’s been in a hostel for homeless people while being treated for stage four cancer.” Vicki tells me.
It was in the difficult years after her diagnosis that Vicki began to consider working as a tour guide— to share her interest in Guy Fawkes. Just as an episode of QI initially introduced her to the city of York, she was in the right place at the right time to hear an advert for Invisible Cities tours.
“[I] Just fell asleep on the couch watching the telly [and] woke up at three in the morning, the newsreader from York was on and she just said have you been homeless? And would you like to train to be a tour guide? I went to the next meeting, and we launched Invisible York in 2019.”
She gives the credit for most of her success to Guy Fawkes, “If I hadn’t come to York back in 2009 I just don’t know what would have happened or where I’d be, learning about him it’s just — it has changed my life.”
Vicki’s promise to attendees of her tours is that “when the next November the 5th comes around and they see the fireworks, they’ll be able to tell their friends and neighbours [the answers to] any questions.”
Make sure you’re one of the few well informed attendees at your Bonfire night celebration by booking one of Vicki’s tours at www.invisible-cities.org
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