Time is running out for this year's public enemy number one as Lewes waits to burn him or her at the stake on November 5.

There are just 19 days to go before the town finds out whose effigy will be torched during the annual bonfire processions.

The victim is kept a closely guarded secret until the moment the town's bonfire societies march into the streets.

Organisers are promising this year will be no less spectacular but who will be singled out for ridicule?

Will leader of the free world George W Bush be back to face the music again?

Or, on a year when two of the town's five bonfire societies celebrate their 150th birthday, will Lewes pull a special surprise out of the bag to mark the occasion?

Last year more than 25,000 people cheered as a 30ft effigy of the US president went up in flames as part of the town's famous annual festival.

Now the town is once again holding its breath as it waits to learn the identity of the latest Enemy of the Bonfire.

Generally a satirical comment on a local, national or international news story, only a chosen few are in on the secret so far.

But the mystery tableau is just one of the unique sights and sounds which make up the UK's most spectacular Bonfire Night party.

Preparations are now almost complete for Lewes' biggest event of the year, the biggest single annual event covered by Sussex Police.

Each year outsiders are urged not to travel to the narrow-streeted town on November 5 but each year thousands of first-time visitors ignore the warnings, attracted by the promise of a spectacle dating back centuries.

Drizzly weather and police warnings kept crowd numbers down to its lowest level last year, leaving revellers free to enjoy the event without the usual problems of crushing.

Every year the town's five bonfire societies rekindle old rivalries and compete to produce the most sensational bonfire display of the night.

Preparations stretch throughout the year, with an army of volunteers working behind the scenes on costumes, torches and the various processions.

At the centrepiece of each society's show are lavishly decorated floats, crammed with fireworks and set alight at the end of the evening.

They are made amid tight secrecy on a topical theme and not revealed until the night of the bonfire.

The societies - Cliffe, Waterloo, Commercial Square, Lewes Borough and South Street - parade the narrow streets in torch-lit processions before moving to their fire sites for fireworks and bonfires.

Both Cliffe and Borough celebrate their 150th anniversary this year, although records suggest activities date back even further.

The formation of the societies was a move designed to curb the wilder excesses of the townspeople's celebrations, which had degenerated into riots.

Then, as now, they were marking the events of 1605, when Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

The bonfires and burning crosses also recall the fires that burnt to death Protestant martyrs outside the Star Inn, Lewes, during the 16th Century.

At this year's event roads entering the town will once again be closed from about 5pm and will not reopen until the early hours of the morning.

Organisers suggest anyone planning to come by car and leave before 1am should park on the outskirts of town and walk in.

SCHEDULE OF MAIN EVENTS (approximate times)

5.45pm - Children's procession up South Street led by 17 burning crosses.

6pm - Ladies barrel run from Cliffe Corner to Cliffe Bridge.

6.15pm - Barrel run from Cliffe Bridge to Cliffe Corner.

6.25pm onwards - Most societies set off for the war memorial, where they will lay a wreath.

7.20pm - South Street Bonfire Society parades through the town, with a special firework display in Castlegate.

7.40pm - The United Grand Procession sees Borough, Commercial Square and Waterloo societies unite in St Anne's Crescent.

7.40pm - Cliffe Bonfire Society sets off up Cliffe High Street to Cliffe Bridge where a blazing tar barrel will be hurled into the Ouse.

8.45pm to 9.30pm - Each society sets off on its own grand procession towards the fire sites.

From 11pm - The societies have their final processions, ending proceedings with bonfire prayers, Auld Lang Syne and God Save The Queen.