Observers who'd gathered for a Guy Fawkes Night fireworks presentation in Oban, Scotland, were treated to the most spectacular, if brief, fireworks display of their lives: 6,000 fireworks — enough for a 20-minute show — had detonated in under one minute, the result of an electronic timing fault.

Councillor Roddy McCuish, who helped organise the event, said hundreds of spectators had been wowed by what they thought was just the start of the display at the town's Mossfield Park.

As the event came to an abrupt halt the crowd thought Councillor McCuish was joking when he apologised after professional firework display company Pyro 1 said there had been a fault. [...]

Local councillor Louise Glen-Lee said: "It was the best fireworks display I have ever seen, despite its brevity. No-one complained."

Indeed, as captured in the video above, the show was as spectacular as it was ephemeral — a breathtaking display of pyrotechnic chemistry that was gone in a puff of smoke almost as quickly as it began. Yes, this was the Kim Kardashian's marriage of fireworks displays. [scotsman.com, YouTube/Telegraph]