The Tower Of London

Gap-fill exercise

  
Complete the gaps with the word from the list. Then check your answer.
   150 people and six ravens      6 ravens      a historical museum      Colonel Blood      elephant      German minister      German spies      guides      Lady Jane Grey      many things      polar bear      strange presents      the ravens   
The Tower has been : a palace, a fortress, a prison, a place of execution, a Zoo. Today, it is best known as . About live here.

Kings sometimes get . About 700 years ago King Henry III got 3 leopards, 1 elephant and a polar bear. He kept them in the Tower. The died after two years but the was happy as it went swimming and fishing in the Thames with a strong rope round its neck. That was the start of the London Zoo. In 1835 all animals left the Tower and were sent to the Zoo in Regent's Park. Only stayed on.

There are always at least at the Tower. The first ones probably built their nests here because they liked the old stone houses and walls. There is a story that they bring good luck to Britain, if they stay at the Tower. That's why they get "paid" meat and biscuits every day. But their wings are cut so that they can't fly away. They are not very friendly. Once one of them bit a .

The Beefeaters used to guard the Tower and its prisoners. Today they work mostly as . They show people around and tell stories about all the terrible things that have happened here. They still wear the high ruffs and scarlet tunics assigned to them during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Tower was a royal palace long ago. Then it became a prison. Kings, queens and noblemen were locked up here. Many, like , lost their heads on Tower Green inside the walls or nearby on Tower Hill. The last time it was used as a prison was during the Second World War when were kept and sometimes shot there.

The Crown Jewels are shown in the Jewel House. They are well looked after. Once they were stolen by a man called . But he was caught just as he was leaving the Tower. Thomas Blood didn't have to go to prison. The king gave him a pension instead. It was in 1671.