Throughout its history, the tower has served many purposes: it housed the royal mint (until the early 19th century), a menagerie (which left in 1835), a records office, an armory and barracks for troops. Until the 17th century, it was also used as a royal residence.

William the Conqueror

It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite.

William the Conqueror built the White Tower in 1066 as a demonstration of Norman power, siting it strategically on the River Thames to act as both fortress and gateway to the capital. It is the most complete example of an 11th century fortress palace remaining in Europe.

Moira Cameron is a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London, England. She is the first woman to ever hold the position. In 2007, after a 22-year career in the British Army, Cameron became one of the 35 resident Warders in the Tower of London, commonly known as the Beefeaters.

(Buffetiers were guards in the palace of French kings. They protected the king’s food.) However, the name Beefeater is more likely to have originated from the time when the Yeomen Warders at the Tower were paid part of their salary with chunks of beef. This took place right up until the 1800s.

The Guards were part of the First Regiment of Foot that finally ended the Napoleonic Wars at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. That’s also when their uniforms picked up the now-iconic bearskin hats. The grenade-throwing grenadiers wore large bearskin shakos to make themselves appear taller and more fearsome.

The corps of 37 Beefeaters, including at least two women, work at the tower and live on site with their families. The guards pay rent and other bills and even have access to their own private pub known as the Yeoman Warders Club, where they take turns working at the bar.

The current basic starting is £22,646 per annum, however with allowances Yeoman warders can expect a gross income of approximately £30,000. Salaries and allowances are reviewed annually as at 1st August.

‘Beefeater’ eventually became a term used to distinguish between the Body Guard at the Tower of London, and the Royal Bodyguards working in other locations. Yeomen Warders have been in service at the Tower of London since 1485 when the corps were formed by King Henry VII, although their origins date back even further.

All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service….Yeomen Warders.

Employed by Historic Royal Palaces, you can expect a salary of around £30,000 and accommodation in the Tower for you and your family – but you do have to pay rent (and council tax!) for the privilege, and it isn’t subsidised.

The 38 Yeoman Warders have been told they must retire at 60 instead of 65, which some say will plunge them into serious financial difficulties. The news was broken to the old soldiers last month by the Historic Royal Palaces Agency, a part of Virginia Bottomley’s Department of National Heritage.

Suffolk

The King ordered their destruction only to be told that if the ravens left , the White Tower would fall and “great disaster” would befall the Kingdom, according to Historic England. Charles II then decreed that the Unkindness be kept at the fortress and castle at all times to prevent disaster.

On Wednesday it announced that one of these birds, Merlina, has gone missing and may be dead. That means the tower’s unkindness of ravens — the birds’ suitably gothic collective noun — is down to seven, so perilously close to the minimum.

The Tower of London’s “queen” raven is missing and feared dead, according to staff at the fortress. Merlina, who joined the flock in 2007, has not been seen for several weeks. “She will be greatly missed by her fellow ravens, the ravenmaster, and all of us in the Tower community.”

In summary then, at average speeds (up to 25mph) a wild raven can cover up to 100 miles in a day.

Albatrosses are masters of soaring flight, able to glide over vast tracts of ocean without flapping their wings. So fully have they adapted to their oceanic existence that they spend the first six or more years of their long lives (which last upwards of 50 years) without ever touching land.

bar-tailed godwit

bar-headed goose

Alpine swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing, but roost on vertical cliffs or walls. A study published in 2013 showed Alpine swifts can spend over six months flying without having to land.

A bird that flies into a house foretells an important message. However, if the bird dies, or is white, this foretells death.

The English terms “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” are complete synonyms: one derives from the Old English gast and the other from the Latin loanword spiritus. Like pneuma, they both refer to the breath, to its animating power, and to the soul.

As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up out of the water. Heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, “This is my own dear son with whom I am pleased.”

Red evokes the color of blood, and therefore is the color of martyrs and of Christ’s death on the Cross. Red also symbolizes fire, and therefore is the color of the Holy Spirit.