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- The Royal Connection
- The City of London Eats
- City of London VIPs
- Richard Remembers
- Owlbut's Birdwatch
The building of the Tower of
London was ordered by William the Conqueror some time in the 1070s. He was worried about rebellions and wanted a massive fortress in the centre of London.
The building took 20 years and wasn't finished until after William's death, which happened in 1087. Since then the Tower and surrounding buildings have had
many Royal connections.
It has been used as a prison. Anne Boleyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, Guy Fawkes and many others were held there. It was where the two princes, Edward
and Richard, disappeared in 1483, never to be seen again. Between the end of the 13th century until 1810 all coins of the realm were made there.
Nowadays the Tower is home to the Crown Jewels, which you can go and visit, and is guarded by the Yeomen of the Guard, popularly called the
Beefeaters, who also conduct guided tours of the Tower and are very entertaining. I visited in 2016 and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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The City of London is too small to have
any specific food.
The City of London is too small to have had any notable births in the last 100 years.
Obviously the City of London was
not visited on my 3 coastal trips but, as I told you above, I did spend nearly ten years working there between 1968 and 1978. I went back in 2016 and couldn't
recognise anything apart from the obvious landmarks. The changes were dramatic; buildings gone, even roads changed.
So, what do I remember. I remember working on the 15th floor of a building called Royex House that swayed in high winds. I remember
climbing fifteen flights of stairs and descending twice a day because I hate lifts. I remember messages coming round the office on 28th February 1975
asking for blood donors after a train crash at Moorgate Station and I remember walking to that station on 2nd June 1970 and seeing newspaper billboards
telling me that my favourite racing driver Bruce McLaren had been killed in a testing crash. I also remember taking an early lunch on Wednesday 24th June
that year so I could go to a memorial service for him at St Paul's cathedral and standing on the cathedral steps alongside Graham Hill and Raymond Baxter
(well look them up).
But my best memory, most pleasant memory, is of lunch on an old
paddle steamer moored to the west of London Bridge. The boat had been built in
1927 and used for pleasure cruises along the south coast until in 1940 it was involved in the evacuation of British troops at Dunkirk, making four trips
across the channel and rescuing over 1,600 men. The boat, less engine and boiler, was there until 1987 and is now back in Dunkirk, apparently once again as a
bar and restaurant. I wish I'd known this in 2019 when I was twice in Dunkirk. It would have been nice to see it again. From 1975 until 1978 I guess a friend
and I had lunch there once a week. They did an amazing ploughman's lunch. Ah, memories.
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The raven is the biggest member of the crow family. It is in fact a massive bird. It is all black with a large, chunky,
medium-length beak and black legs. It has long wings and, when flying, shows a diamond-shaped tail.
Ravens breed mainly in the north and west of England and can be best looked for in the upland areas of south west England, the north Pennines
and the Lake District and, hopefully if you read our story above, still at the Tower of London. There are estimated to be 7,400 breeding pairs in the UK.
Ravens eat mammals, birds, eggs, insects and other invertebrates. They also feed on carrion, which is the flesh of dead animals.
Ravens are between 60 to 68 cms in length, have a wingspan of between 120 and 150 cms and weigh between 800 grams and 1½ kilograms.
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Two extra sections, "It Happened Here" and "Now That's Weird", will appear on 2 September 2024
