Beefeater My Story

This story belongs to Leah

and her Grandad Alan.

It's a tiny tale about Grandad Alan

and the things he used to do.

-Can you see any red ones?

-Yeah.

-Can you see any more red ones?

-Yeah.

Where? Show me where they are.

-There.

-Can you pull it off? Are you going to pull it off?

That's a good girl. Show me. Give it to grandad.

So we have to wash that and then grandma and grandad

can eat that later on in our salad.

That's a nice thing to do, Leah.

And now it's time for Grandad Alan

to take Leah on a journey of discovery

and share his stories of when he was younger.

Grandad Alan lives in an exciting place and has a very special job

in the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is a big castle near the River Thames

and it was built many, many years ago.

You know, darling, we're actually staying where I live

in the Tower of London.

And do you know what they call us?

They call us Beefeaters.

Why are you called a Beefeater, Grandad?

We don't really know where the name Beefeater comes from,

it may be in the old days that we were given beef to eat.

It's just really a nickname.

-So what nickname does Grandad call you?

-Pickle!

Yes! Hooray!

Wow! Grandad Alan is a Beefeater!

And he tells Leah more about what a Beefeater does.

And my job as a Beefeater

is to protect the Queen when she visits the Tower.

I also have to protect the Tower of London itself,

I have the protect the castle.

And, of course, we have to look after all the jewels,

the Crown Jewels that are kept inside the Tower.

What a very important job Grandad Alan

has protecting all of those valuable things!

"Protect" means to keep something safe.

So, Leah, Grandad was in the Army for 25 years.

To become a Beefeater,

you have to have been in the military for a minimum of 22 years.

You also have to have a very special medal,

a medal that's awarded to us after 18 years of good loyal service.

And thirdly, you have to have reached the rank of sergeant major.

My main job...as a Beefeater is to give guided tours

to the very many millions of visitors

that come to the Tower of London each year.

I also have to tell many stories about the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is also called Her Majesty's

Royal Palace and Fortress.

And in the olden days it was used for many things.

Kings and queens lived there

and naughty people were also locked up in prison there.

What an amazing place to visit!

Now Grandad Alan is tellingly Leah all about his special uniform.

So these letters mean Elizabeth Regina, which means Queen Elizabeth,

which is our Queen.

And I'm wearing a very special uniform today

-and I've got a special hat on. Would you like try my hat on?

-Yeah.

-Here we go.

-Boo!

-SHE GIGGLES

-Where's she gone?

-I can't see anything!

I have another very special uniform

and I've got a very special one for you to wear.

-Shall we go and try it on?

-Yeah!

Yeah! Come on then, let's go!

-Ooh, hello!

-I look like a Beefeater!

You do look like a Beefeater, don't you.

Exactly the same as Grandad.

-Wow! Are you going to come and sit on my lap?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, and then we'll go off and do some work, shall we?

-Yeah.

This is my grandma.

Hello, Grandma Pat.

Ohh!

Grandma Pat also works at the Tower of London, like Grandad Alan.

Grandma Pat's job is to look after the Crown Jewels

and all of the Queen's valuable items.

Grandma Pat makes sure they're kept safe

and helps to clean and move them when needed.

She also tells tourists information about the Crown Jewels.

The Crown Jewels are a big collection

of shiny and sparkly rings, necklaces,

crowns and lots of other very, very old things.

This is a picture of one of the crowns from the collection

travelling to a special ceremony which the Queen will be at.

Beefeaters bring in the crown.

And here is Her Majesty wearing it.

All of the jewels are locked up and kept safe by the Beefeaters,

because they cost lots and lots of money.

The Tower of London is also the home to some pretend metal animals.

But a long, long time ago real wild animals used to live her.

-Can you see up there? What's that?

-An elephant.

-Yes!

An elephant. What does an elephant do?

SHE MIMICS TRUMPETING

HE MIMICS TRUMPETING

And a slippery snake?

SHE HISSES

All kinds of animals were here at the Tower,

we had lions, tigers, bears.

All of these animals were brought into the Tower

by various very important people.

And they were given to the kings and queens as presents.

And then they were taken to Regents Park

to where we know today to be London Zoo.

One of the kings who used to live here was this man,

King George III, he was given a grizzly bear named Martin

as a gift many, many years ago.

And this is what Martin the grizzly bear would have looked that.

-Are we going to say bye-bye to the elephant?

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye, Mr Elephant.

-Lift me up.

-Pull Grandad up first.

Pull him up. HE GROANS

-Thank you very much.

-And now...

-And now. He grounds.

Dear, oh, dear! There he is.

I can't reach.

I can't reach either.

All of the wild exotic animals have long gone,

but there's one creature who will always be here.

The raven.

This is a Raven.

The story goes, there always has to be six ravens

living at the Tower of London and if the ravens leave...

there will be no more future kings or queens of Britain.

Come on then, let's go up to the perch.

Grandad Alan and Leah are going to feed one of the ravens

some boiled eggs. Yum!

-Put it by the perch. Quick. Here she comes look.

-What here?

-Yeah.

Just put it down there. Put it down there on the ground.

That's it. Leave it there. Leave it there. Come on then. There she is.

Oh, well done! Thank you very much.

-Look.

-Oh, look.

-She's breaking it.

-She's breaking it, isn't she?

-Yeah.

And do you know what her name is?

-No.

-Her name is Melina.

Do you know how many ravens

-we have here at the Tower?

-One, two, three.

-Three?

-Oh, I don't think so.

-Yes, we have three ravens.

We have six ravens here at the Tower of London.

Grandad Alan told Leah some more interesting stories

about being a Beefeater and they explored other parts of the tower.

The Tower of London

looks like a fantastic place to have a look around.

There is one place though which has a rather strange hole.

I wonder what that was for?

Here we are, right by the side of the White Tower

and can you see the really big hole up there?

Can you see the hole?

Do you know what it was used for? Can you guess?

-A toilet.

-A toilet. Very good! Yes, it was.

People's poo used to flush out through this hole.

I'm glad we have nice clean toilets these days.

And you know why we're here, darling,

because we have to think of a secret password,

a password which we used to give out in the olden days

when very important people came to the Tower.

And we'd only allow certain people in.

And we have to think of a nice, secret word.

Can you help me with that?

Can you whisper to me a secret password?

I'd whisper pea.

Oh, what a lovely password!

That is a lovely password, Leah.

Grandad Alan and Leah are waiting for some soldiers to come

and collect the secret password from Grandad Alan.

-Would you like to hand it over, Leah.

-Yeah.

-There we go.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you. Thank you very much, sir.

-Thank you.

Handing over the password every day at 3pm

is one of Grandad Alan's jobs as the Chief Beefeater.

And Grandad Alan has allowed Leah to do this very special job today.

How exciting!

Come on, darling.

Every couple of hours the soldiers

swap over their job of guarding the Tower.

Grandad Alan and Leah are watching them change over.

This swapping of the guards has been happening here for many, many years.

Don't the soldiers look very smart.

That's a new one. That's the old one going away.

And what we have to do, we have to wave goodbye to them from the gate.

-Ready? Ready to wave goodbye? Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye. Bye-bye.

-Is that the old one?

-No, he's the new soldier.

-Yeah.

-There we go.

-So, darling, have you enjoyed helping Grandad be a Beefeater?

-Yes!

-Yes!

I picked a tomato.

I dressed like a Beefeater!

I saw the elephant.

I feed the ravens.

I saw the old toilet.

I gave the password.

We watched the guards.

And what was your favourite bit?

Er...giving the password.

Giving the password! Was it? I enjoyed that very much as well.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Now though, I have a little problem,

cos I've got a very sad, lost teddy bear

and he needs somebody to look after him.

Would you like to look after him for me? Would you?

-Yeah.

-I wonder where he is?

-Under there.

-Do you think he's under my hat?

-Yeah.

-Shall we have a look? He's not under my hat.

-Yes, he is!

He's over here, look. There he is. SHE LAUGHS

-Hello.

-Hello!

-How are you?

-Shall I give him a cuddle?

-Yes, please!

Thank you very much. And a kiss and a cuddle to Grandad.

A kiss and a cuddle to Grandad. Mmm! Thank you very much, darling.

What a fabulous heap of fun!

That was Leah and Grandad Alan's tiny tale about being a Beefeater.

Now Grandad Alan has shared his story with Leah,

it's time for Leah to start her own story.

Do you know someone with a story to share?