This is a personal column by author Louis de Bernières recounting a bizarre accident involving a bonfire, which he says gave him a visceral understanding of the physical agony Joan of Arc must have suffered when she was burned at the stake in 1431. The piece appears in the Daily Mail's opinion section as a first-person reflection rather than a straight news report.

The supplied article text consists almost entirely of surrounding Daily Mail navigation links and unrelated headlines, so specific details of the bonfire incident itself—such as when and where it happened or the extent of any injury—are not available in the material provided.