The Chief Beefeater On The Road With...

out of Baghdad when we can. Now it's time for On The Road

With... The Chief Beefeater. John Keoghan is at the Tower of London.

Built on the banks of the Thames, the Tower of London is over 900

years old. Monarchs have lived here, queens have been executed here.

Last year, around two-and-a-half million people visited. Beefeaters

have been guarding it for more than 500 years. John Keohane was the

second longest serving Chief Beefeater. The Beefeater is the

nickname for the Queen's bodyguard, the Yeoman warders, it probably

came from the Tudor time when beef was not a common meat, it was a

luxury item and the Yeoman Warders were able to take home the beef

Attention! I spent a couple of days with the Chief during his final

I am meeting with him at home as he prepares for a ceremony. So, how

long have you been Chief Yeoman Warder? I was appointed to the

position in August 2004. Just over seven years. How long have you been

a Beefeater? That is the nickname. Yes. The correct title is Yeoman

Warder. But Beefeater is the nickname by which all of the Yeoman

Warders are often referred to. how long have you been one? I came

here in September 1991, started off at the bottom,baby Beefeater.

you live here at the Tower? Yes, we do, I always say, welcome to my

little house on the river. Today is one of three state church parades.

We parade in full regalia on Easter, Whitsun and Christmas.

We will have the privilege of escorting the resident governor,

the Queen's representative at the Tower, to church for the carol

service. Is it quite fiddly? It can be, but once you have the knack...

The Chief is putting on his state dress uniform, which he wears on

Is it heavy? Yes, it is fairly heavy. But once you have got into

it, it is all right. Will you help me do the buttons up? This is one

of the reasons why in days gone past, members of the royal family

used to have dressers. There are three more at the top there. They

should be easier. What are the medals for? They are from my

service in the armed forces. And recently, the most senior medal,

the one with the cross, is the member of the Victorian Order,

which I was awarded in the Queen's Birthday Honours. This is the final

part, the belt. And the sword I carry, which in days gone by would

have been for protecting the monarch. Does it work, the sword?

Absolutely. If I needed to. That's it. It is perfectly... Can I hold

It is operational... Part of our role is to defend the

monarch. If things went pear-shaped, we would have no hesitation in

The Chief is off to meet the Governor of the Tower of London for

a sherry at the Queen's House which was built for Anne Boleyn. She was

executed before she could live in it. The resident governor, Colonel

Richard Harold. The Governor here at the Tower of London. The

gentleman I am taking to church this morning. Happy Christmas!

Yeoman Warders, attention! How do you become a Beefeater? It is a

process of qualifications that you have to earn by being in the

military. 22 years of military service. Having achieved the

minimum rank of warrant officer during that time, which is middle-

management in the armed service, you must have been awarded the

Conduct Medal during your career and ideally be between 40 and 55

years old. The chaplain at the Tower is serving whisky before the

Christmas service begins. Good morning and welcome. Please pass

this to one of these gentlemen. Happy Christmas to you all. Happy

Christmas and welcome. Lovely stuff. The Chief is reading a lesson at

his final carol service as a Beefeater. But thou, Bethlehem

Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet

out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in

Israel, whose goings forth have Yeoman body, hold! The Beefeaters

are employed by Historic Royal Palaces. Right turn! Yeoman body,

to your duties, dismissed! Chris Morton is the Yeoman Gaoler. Would

you explain that to me? This is the staff of Office, the

Yeoman Warder. What it was was in the past when prisoners went to the

trials at Westminster, the jailer would sit on the front of the boat

so when they came back and the verdict was guilty, the blade would

be pointing towards the prisoner and if they were not guilty, the

blade would be facing away from the prisoner. It was a way of spreading

the news about the trial that had taken place and what the verdict

was. It is purely ceremonial, this did not chop anybody's head off. It

is quite fragile. The Chief is going back home to change uniforms.

How many times do you think you have had your photograph taken as a

Hundreds and hundreds of thousands. When I first came here, I got a

clicking machine and I worked out in a day I had over 400 photographs.

About 200 days a year, 20 odd years, that is a lot of photographs.

you feel like a celebrity? suppose you do, in some respects. I

know that I felt humble when I first put on the uniform. I

wondered what it was, but I realised straight away that it is

the uniform people want to take pictures of, not me. Will you talk

us through it? This is the blue undress uniform. This is for normal

working days. It bears the Queen's cipher, E 11 R, Elizabeth Secunda

Regina. The White Tower is one of 20 that make up the Tower of London.

Who was the last monarch to stay in the tour? James I, or as he was

originally, James VI of Scotland, who came down here and became James

I of England. What is the significance of the ravens?

ravens have lived here for over 900 years. There is a legend which has

grown up about them that simply states that if the ravens ever

leave the Tower, the White Tower will crumble and fall, and so will

the monarchy. How do you make sure the monarchy. How do you make sure

the monarchy. How do you make sure the ravens stay here?

My raven master and his assistant trims them. That stops them from

lifting of the ground. Is it by royal decree that you keep them

here? We are by royal decree, we have to keep a minimum of six

ravens here at the Tower at all times. It is January and I am back

with the Chief who's going to let me film some other sides to his job.

Right. What are these? These are the keys that will open up the

Palace with. The one key that works is that one. You will see me

putting that into the gates, opening up the gates, then walking

back through with my escort. So you are the first line of defence if

there is a threat that manifests itself? Yes, we have the privilege

of living here as part of our job, and in the event, we are available

24 hours a day and could be called out if any major disaster happens

to the Tower. And if there is a need for armed response, what

happens? We have the military here, of course. There has always been a

garrison here at the Tower. They are the armed response at their

prime responsibility is the guardian of the Crown Jewels.

important is tradition to you? important. It is part of my life.

It is part of what the Yeomen body are here for, to try and help the

public that come and visit the tower, to understand the 900 years

of our history, the 500 years of the Yeomen body that came here

after the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. We have been carrying out

her duties here inside this World Heritage Site. That was rather

energetic for this time of the morning. It happens every day. We

are now open to the public. The soldiers will now go and post two

sentries. They will remain there for the rest of the day, changing

every two hours. Basically, my normal day is eight o'clock until

five o'clock in the winter and eight until six in the summer. But

I can work up until midnight, we have corporate receptions and all

the rest. My hours are flexible. I have to work as and when required.

The Chief is in charge of 36 Beefeaters, 35 men and one woman.

We are going to his office. Hello, John. This is your office as chief?

I have had the pleasure of working from here as head of operations.

January 31st is my last day in office. Alan will be taking over

from me as Chief Yeoman Warder. much of your time is spent here?

come up here at about nine in the morning. The normal routine would

be working with paperwork, we schedule meetings throughout the

day. I spend probably at least four Do you think more women that will

join in the future? Yes, I am sure they will. We are at the beginning

of the time when females are staying in the army long enough to

allow them to be qualified to come and do this job. The chief is

preparing for the ceremony with John Beech, an assistant major with

the Marines. They come to this position. You will be stopped here

with the band. A microphone there and there. The table will be set up

on the road. The company holds and turn inwards to face the Queen's

House. What is the ceremony of the Constables? It is a traditional

ceremony that has taken place, and in the past the, constable

responsible for the security of the area, a ship coming into the Port

of London would be required to pay part of the cargo as a payment to

the constable for being looked after. Today, it is no more than a

simple ceremony and on this occasion a ship of Her Majesty's

Royal Navy, HMS Liverpool is paying her last visit before she is

decommissioned. They will present a barrel of wine to the constable to

celebrate that occasion. That will be presented by the ship's company

and the barrel of wine will be paraded throughout the town where,

fastened, the barrel will be slung Let's take you into the Bloody

Would you tell me about the Prince's captive. Yes, the boy

princes, Edward VI and his brother Richard Duke of York were kept in

this tower, not exactly as it is today. This exhibition is about Sir

Walter Raleigh. He was kept here between 1603 - 1616. When the boy

princes were kept here, this is where they were looked after by

their uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester and the story is they

were seen less and less and they finally disappeared off the face of

the Earth. Nobody knows what happened to them. This portcullis

is over the gateway between the outer ward of the tower and the

inner ward. With all the prisoners living on the inside, the

portcullis was dropped down onto the floor and that protected the

gateway entrance. This is a memorial to Anne Boleyn who was

executed here. Was it a privilege to be executed inside the tower

rather than outside? I suppose you could say that. A strange privilege.

It was more private. That is the important thing. Only a few people

would have witnessed the event whereas the public execution was

all the fun of the fair, hundreds and hundreds would have been on

Tower Hill to watch the public The chief is taking me to look at

Here we have an inscription from a prisoner kept in the Tower. This

one, the simple chain is of course Lady Jane Grey. She was a young

crowned Queen of nine days was imprisoned here in the Tower but

her husband Lord Guildford Dudley was the man who was imprisoned in

this tower. If you come through, let's make our way up here. This is

the outer wall. We are on the outer Where are we now? The bedroom of

Edward I. The bed you see is typical of what he would have slept

in when he was on the throne in the Good afternoon. Nice to have you

with this. Here I have the word what it for you. That has the

password in it. Take that to the control room and it will sort

things out for you. What you have witnessed is one of the daily

traditions in the Tower. This is the ceremony of the word. It takes

place every day at 3pm and I as duty supervisor hand over to the

officer of the day the password which will be used in the event of

any major emergency in the Tower because between midnight and six am

the tower is completely sealed and if any incident took place which

would have a higher state of emergency, they would issue the

password to the soldiers who would And that would mean only people who

knew the password could come and go. Exactly right. We have residents

living here who would be issued a password and as they made their way

to their residence they could be challenged by the members of the

Irish Guards who carry out guarding the Tower tonight. The chief is

accompanying the Governor on his This is the word wallet. I have

retrieved it from the office of the guard and will take it back to the

Byward Tower where it remains and it will have the password for

tomorrow placed inside and at 3 o'clock the officer again collects.

There is no password at the moment. No, I can show you quite simply it

is completely empty. Have you had a good day? Thank you. Jim has got

the keys. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Traitors' Gate.

This is the world famous Traitors' Gate where many prisoners were

brought through, it no longer has water in it but that has been

blocked up. This is where many famous prisoners came including the

queens of England. They were brought through here, they were met

by the Yeoman gaoler and taken straight through to the Bloody

Tower archway which in those days was the only way in and out of the

inner ward of the tower. That is where the prisoners were kept. Have

the toilets been left open? Lights on. I'll keep these because I am

doing the tour tonight. We needed chains left up. Thanks very much.

He is about to ring the curfew bell on the top of the bell tower, you

will hear it in a moment. That is to signify the tower is closed to

members of the public. Right on cue! There it is. That is the bell

tower which is one of the 13 towers on the inner wall. The other thing

which you may be interested in, the arrow slit behind there is the

chamber where Sir Thomas More was held in 1534. George, have you had

a good day? A very good day, nice and busy. Lots of different things

to do. How was the office today? will get it right. This is where I

take over from George. He has been the supervisor during the day and I

take over throughout the night. This ceremony we will take part in,

the ceremony of the keys has been taking place every night of the

year for over 700 years. Since 1280 when the gates behind me were

fitted for the first time, some form of locking up as taken place

here on each and every night. We invite 80 members of the public

every night to come into the tower to witness the ceremony and the

locking up of the tower. This is a rehearsal. Yes. We are not allowed

to film the real thing. Only those that are invited to come and see

the ceremony at 10 o'clock take home the memories of what it is

they have seen. How many times have you done the ceremony as chief?

started this in 1996. Acting as the chief in this role so I do two

evenings a week. Goodness knows how many. It is certainly into its

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 46 seconds