Monday, July 31, 2017

Four Lions (2010) by the way is incredibly funny

I just about died laughing when they talked about putting a bomb on a crow. (if you have ever been to the tower of London they have had at least 6 Ravens (or whatever the proper number is) for good luck that have ALWAYS been there since about 1000 or 1100 or so AD. For good luck because it is believed that the British Empire would fall otherwise so this has been constant. So, when the terrorists in this movie decide to put Bombs on Crows it is a play on this British Government belief regarding this way back in history. So, this is why it is so funny if you have ever visited the Tower of London and have seen the Ravens up close and personal and heard all the other true historical stories about the Tower of London like all the beheadings there over the years way back of royalty and British and other leaders like Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake likely there as well as she was a French Historical famous figure at the time. I went once in October 1999 and once in October 2011 to the Tower of London. Don't miss the history if you are in London.

I have often wondered whether "Quoth the Raven Nevermore" of Edgar Allen Poe was somehow related to this?

I saw wild ravens still in Pitlochry in Scotland in 1999 by the way and in 2011 when I bought a wool hat which looks like a Fedora hat but is very warm in cold weather when I'm hiking in the forests there Pitlochry.

Four Lions (Official Movie Site) - Starring Riz Ahmed, Adeel Akhtar and ...

www.fourlionsthemovie.com/
A whip-smart, slapstick comedy, Chris Morris' FOUR LIONS takes aim at Jihadi suicide bombers and illuminates the war on terror through satire and farce.

Four Lions (2010) - IMDb

www.imdb.com/title/tt1341167/
Rating: 7.3/10 - ‎60,576 votes
Comedy · Four incompetent British jihadists set out to train for and commit an act of terror.

Four Lions - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lions
Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical dark comedy film, directed by Chris Morris in his directorial debut, and written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.
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The Ravens of the Tower of London are a group of at least six captive ravens which live at the ... Charles II then ordered six birds to be kept at the Tower.

Ravens of the Tower of London

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jubilee and Munin, two of the Tower's ravens[1]
The Ravens of the Tower of London are a group of at least six captive ravens which live at the Tower of London.[2] Their presence is traditionally believed to protect the Crown and the tower; a superstition holds that "if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it".[3][4][5]
Historically, wild ravens were common throughout Britain, even in towns, the tower being within their natural range. When they were exterminated from much of their traditional range, including London, they could only exist at the tower in captivity and with official support. Local legend puts the origin of the captive raven population at the time of King Charles II (reigned 1660–85). Some historians believe the "tower's raven mythology is likely to be a Victorian flight of fantasy".[6] Some of the ravens at the tower were specially bred in Somerset.[1][7]

Contents

History

Legends

One of the earliest legends that connects the Tower with a raven is the tale of the euhemerised mutually destructive battle against the Irish leader Matholwch who had mistreated the British princess Branwen. Branwen's brother Brân the Blessed (King of the Britons) ordered his followers to cut off his head and bury it beneath the White Hill (where the Tower now stands) facing out towards France as a talisman to protect Britain from foreign invasion.[8]
A view (c. 1900) of Tower Green, where historically a temporary scaffold was sometimes erected for executions, although these were usually carried out on Tower Hill outside the castle. Before the 20th century, there were seven executions on Tower Green.[9]
According to folklore, wild ravens are thought to have inhabited the Tower for many centuries, supposedly first attracted there by the smell of the corpses of the executed enemies of the Crown.[10] Allegedly, at the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1535, "Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene. A Queen about to die!"[11] The ravens of the Tower supposedly behaved much worse during the execution of Lady Jane Grey in 1554, allegedly "pecking the eyes from the severed head" of the queen.[12]
In his article "How Ravens Came to the Tower of London", American author Boria Sax came to the conclusion that "the ravens were originally brought in to dramatise the alleged site of executions at the Tower".[13]
One legend attributes the start of the tradition of keeping ravens with clipped wings in the Tower of London to Charles II and to his royal astronomer John Flamsteed, although there are versions of the legend that differ in their details.[14] According to one legend, John Flamsteed complained to Charles II that wild ravens were flying past his telescope and making it harder for him to observe the sky from his observatory in the White Tower. Flamsteed requested that the birds be removed, but Charles II refused to comply with this request.[12][14]
Another variation of this legend says that it was Charles II himself who disliked the wild ravens' droppings falling onto the telescope. The conversation with his astronomer that supposedly followed decided the fate not only of the ravens, but also of Greenwich, where the Greenwich Observatory was commissioned by the King in 1675. In this version of the legend the King complained:
"These ravens must go!" he said. "But, Sire, it is very unlucky to kill a raven," replied Flamstead, "If you do that the Tower will fall and you will lose your kingdom, having only just got it back!" Charles, being a pragmatist, thought for a moment and said: "The Observatory must go to Greenwich and the ravens can stay in the Tower."[12]
Yet another legend attributes the appearance of ravens in the Tower to the Great Fire of London in 1666. Wild ravens, as well as pigs and kites, were the biggest scavengers in medieval London.[15] Allegedly after the fire, survivors started persecuting ravens for scavenging, but Flamsteed explained to Charles II that killing all ravens would be a bad omen, and that the kingdom would not outlive the last killed raven. Charles II then ordered six birds to be kept at the Tower.[16]

Wild ravens in London

Wild ravens are native to Britain (and most other parts of the Northern Hemisphere) although in recent times breeding populations are mostly restricted to the wilder western upland areas of the British Isles.[17] It is quite likely that ravens lived in and around the Tower centuries ago,[18] because until the 16th century, ravens lived in close proximity to people as well as in wild areas; they were welcomed in towns because their scavenging habits of feeding helped keep the streets clean. However, in later years wild ravens were viewed as a threat to livestock, and during the 19th century they were eliminated in many areas by systematic hunting and shooting.[19] The last time ravens nested in the wild in London was in Hyde Park in 1826, but the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reported in 2004 that ravens had been observed nesting in the Home Counties around London, as close as 30 miles from the Tower.[20]
The first two depictions of ravens in the Tower of London both date from the year 1883. One is in a special edition of the newspaper The Pictorial World, and the other is from the children's Book London Town, written by Felix Leigh and illustrated by Thomas Crane and Elizabeth Houghton.[21]
Sax found the one early mention of importation of captive ravens in the 1918 book The Tower from Within by George Younghusband. Younghusband stated that the ravens were provided by the 4th Earl of Dunraven (1841–1926). The second Earl of Dunraven had been a patron of the Druidic scholar, poet, and forger Iolo Morganwg, who convinced the family that their castle in Glamorgan had been the original residence of the raven-god Bran, actually an early king. The Earls may have thought of the ravens as avatars of Bran, and wished to assert a spiritual claim over the Tower.[22]
Geoff Parnell, the official Tower of London historian, and a member of the Royal Armouries staff, also believes that the allegedly ancient history of captive ravens at the Tower is just a legend that was created during the Victorian era. And during Parnell's research, despite the superstition that the Crown depends on the continued presence of the ravens, "[he] has found the blunt statement in the records 'there are none left' – and yet the monarchy and the tower have more or less survived".[6] This alludes to a period right before the reopening of the Tower after World War II, when the only surviving ravens, the mated pair Mabel and Grip, disappeared from the Tower, perhaps eloping to a nearby wood. The story of their escape appeared in several local American papers.[23]
Dr Parnell also believes that the first captive ravens may have been introduced to the Tower as pets of the staff. After "The Raven" the famous narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe was first published in January 1845, the Western world became fascinated with the birds.[6]

World War II

During World War II, only one raven was able to survive the hardships of the bombing during the Blitz, so the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, ordered more ravens to be brought in, in order to bring the flock up to the correct size. The Tower ravens are enlisted as soldiers of the Kingdom, and were issued attestation cards in the same way as soldiers and police. As is the case with soldiers, the ravens can be dismissed for unsatisfactory conduct.[4][15][24]
The first reference to an early version of the legend that Britain will fall if the ravens leave the Tower comes from July, 1944, when ravens were being used as unofficial spotters for enemy bombs and planes during the Blitz.[25]

Recent events

Today the Tower's ravens are one of the attractions for tourists visiting the City of London.[6] Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, is reported to have been impressed by the birds' verbal skills; one of the ravens greeted each person in his entourage with a "Good morning!".[26] However, visitors are advised not to feed the birds, and warned that a raven will bite if it feels threatened.[14]
Since 1987, the Tower ravens have been the subject of a successful captive breeding programme. For example, over time, 17 chicks were successfully hatched and raised by a pair of ravens known as "Charlie" and "Rhys".[3] Charlie came to an unhappy end: he bit a bomb-sniffing dog (who was also named Charlie), and the dog grabbed the raven with his teeth. This dog bite killed the bird.[4]
During the global spread of H5N1 virus ("bird flu") in 2006, the ravens of the Tower were taken inside, and lived in "custom-built aviaries".[27]

Care and diet

The ravens' aviary in 2004
The ravens cannot fly because the flight feathers on one wing are clipped. With a single wing clipped, they can only fly short distances to perch. Otherwise, as Boria Sax writes, tongue-in-cheek:
The ravens are now treated almost like royalty. Like the Royals, the ravens live in a palace and are waited on by servants. They are kept at public expense, but in return they must show themselves to the public in settings of great splendour. So long as they abide by certain basic rules, neither Royals nor ravens have to do anything extraordinary. If the power in question is political and diplomatic, the Royals now have hardly more than the ravens. But the word "power" here can also mean the aura of glamour and mystery which at times envelops both ravens and monarchs.[28]
Each Tower raven has a different coloured band on one leg, to make it easier to identify individual birds.[29] Ravens in captivity in the Tower grounds have had lifespans of over 40 years.[30]
The Tower's ravens are given individual names, and are all under the care of the Yeomen Warders. The diet of the ravens is carefully maintained; it includes fresh fruit, cheese and fresh meat, as well as vitamins and other supplements.[31] In 2007, the Ravenmaster Derek Coyle commented: "I buy fresh meat from Smithfield – liver, lamb, beef, chicken. And occasionally when I’m at my own place in Suffolk someone will give me some rabbit that’s been killed. If I see roadkill on the road, and it’s not been too badly mangled, I normally put it in a black bag and bring it back here. I give them biscuits as well, soaked in blood from the meat that I buy. And in winter I get them capsules of cod liver oil. I know they’re getting as much vitamins and oil as they possibly can. That’s why they look so healthy." He also says, "Every day they’ve all had at least 8 oz of meat. Every other day they’ll get a boiled egg and I’ll give them chopped apple, grapes – they love cheese by the way."[31]

Raven stories

Most Londoners are fond of the ravens, but sometimes an individual bird will fall out of favour because of inappropriate behaviour. For example, "Raven George" lost his appointment to the Crown, and was retired to Wales for attacking and destroying TV aerials. A special decree was issued about the incident:
On Saturday 13th September 1986, Raven George, enlisted 1975, was posted to the Welsh Mountain Zoo. Conduct unsatisfactory, service therefore no longer required.[32]
In 1996, two more ravens fell out of favour and were dismissed from the Tower for "conduct unbecoming Tower residents."[33]
Despite having their flight feathers clipped on one wing, sometimes the Tower ravens desert their duties. In 1981, Grog the raven decided to leave the surroundings of the Tower for those of a pub, after 21 years of faithful service to the Crown.[4][14] In contrast, a raven named Mabel was kidnapped from the Tower soon after World War II, a mystery that has never been solved.[3]
Another story concerns the two ravens named "James Crow" and "Edgar Sopper". James Crow was a much-loved and long-lived raven. After noticing the commotion surrounding the other raven's death, Edgar Sopper decided he could "play dead" in order to bring more attention to himself. His trick was so convincing that the ravenmaster fully believed that Edgar Sopper had died. When the ravenmaster picked up the "corpse", Edgar bit the man's finger and "flapped off croaking huge raven laughs".[24]
In 1990 a chaplain named Norman Hood died in his chamber on the Tower grounds. Former Assistant Ravenmaster Tom Trent has reported that the ravens appeared to be aware of the death, for they soon gathered on the Tower Green near the chapel, called out, and then became quiet, as though to pay their respects. The idea should not be discounted, as corvids have been widely reported to hold "funerals," in which they mourn and then cluster around a dead bird in silence.[34]

See also

References


  • "A Guide to the Tower Ravens" (PDF). Historic Royal Palaces: Tower of London. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
    1. Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 103.

    External links

    Media related to Ravens at the Tower of London at Wikimedia Commons

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  • "Learn about the ravens". Historic Royal Palaces. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

  • "The guardians of the Tower". The Tower of London.

  • Jeffrey Vallance (November 2007). "Myths of the Raven. The myths and meanings of the Tower of London ravens". forteantimes.com.

  • Jane Fryer (4 May 2008). "Attack of the killer ravens: Flocks are suddenly slaughtering lambs - what is going on?". Daily Mail Online.

  • Kennedy, Maev (15 November 2004). "Tower's raven mythology may be a Victorian flight of fantasy". The Guardian. London.

  • "Tower of London's Jubilee raven released". BBC News. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

  • Sax, Boria. "Medievalism, Paganism, and the Tower Ravens". Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 9 (1). doi:10.1558/pome.v9i1.62.

  • Edward Impey & Geoffrey Parnell (2000). The Tower of London: The Official Illustrated History. Merrell Publishers in association with Historic Royal Palaces. p.94

  • Jason Cochran and Pauline Frommer (2007). Pauline Frommer's London. Wiley Publishing Inc. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-470-05228-0.

  • George Younghusband (1918). The Tower from Within. William Brendon and Son. p. 134.

  • Sax, Boria. "City of Ravens: How ravens came to the Tower of London, why they stayed, and what they tell us about nature and humankind". The Guardian.

  • Sax, Boria (20 April 2007). "How Ravens Came to the Tower of London" (PDF). The Guardian.

  • "The ravens. The guardians of the Tower". The Tower of London. Retrieved 2017-06-06.

  • H. V. Morton (24 December 2002). In Search of London. Da Capo Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-306-81132-6.

  • John M. Marzluff, Tony Angell, Paul R. Ehrlich (2005). In the Company of Crows and Ravens. Yale University. p. 142.

  • "Raven". Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

  • Jerome, Fiona. Tales from the Tower: 2006. pp. 148–9

  • McCarthy, Michael (23 January 2006). "Ravens, the literary birds of death, come back to life in Britain". The Independent. London. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

  • "Wild ravens could nest once more at Tower". Daily Telegraph. London. 21 June 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2010.

  • Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 50-53., .

  • Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 36-40.

  • Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 80-84.

  • A Short History of the Tower of London. The Tower of London.

  • Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 62-73.

  • Iseard, Nicola (1 February 2009). "My life in travel". The Observer. London.

  • "Bird Flu Threat Sends Tower of London Ravens Indoors". Fox News. 21 February 2006.

  • Sax, Boria. City of Ravens: London, Its Tower, and Its Famous Birds. London: Duckworth, 2011, p. 17.

  • "Her Majesty's Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, The Tower Ravens". Historic-UK.com. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

  • Boarman, W.I.; B. Heinrich; Poole, A.; Gill, F. (1999). "Common Raven (Corvus corax)". Birds of North America. 476: 1–32. doi:10.2173/bna.476.

  • Jen Ogilvie (November 2007). "The Ravenmaster Speaks FT interviews Derek Coyle, Tower of London Ravenmaster". forteantimes.com.

  • "THE TOWER RAVENS".

  • "The Tower Ravens". europeforvisitors.com.

  • Pitlochry | In the Heart of Scotland

    https://www.pitlochry.org/
    Welcome to Pitlochry, one of Scotland's most beautiful and vibrant places to visit.
    Pitlochry is the largest town in Highland Perthshire and the tourist hub for this area of Scotland, it has a long established reputation as a tourist destination built ...

    Pitlochry - Wikipedia

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    Pitlochry is a burgh in the county of Perthshire in Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is administered as part of the council area of Perth and Kinross, and has ...
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