Nothing To Crow About

‘AS we celebrate everything it means to be British, we raise a glass of super-strength lager to the very guardians of the realm – the ravens at the Tower of London.

Percy the Pigeon was delighted with his raven costume

Mayor Ken Livingstone may be trying to make London a pigeon-free zone, but – as we all know – if the ravens leave, the monarchy and the tower itself will fall.

So, at least, says the legend, but the Guardian begs to differ.

It says Geoff Parnell, the official Tower of London historian, has scoured the records for the past 1,000 years and can trace the ravens back no further than the end of the 19th Century.

What is more, Dr Parnell has discovered that even when the Tower was raven-less during World War II (when some were killed by bombing and others died of shock), the monarchy and Tower both survived.

But such was the legend that when the Tower reopened on January 1 1946, the ravens were back in situ.

Or dirty pigeons, as other experts would have it…’

Posted: 15th, November 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink