No, there is only-I am the sixth ravenmaster to ever be at the Tower of London, so it's quite a modern appointment, if you like. So you must come from a long line of ravenmasters. Mirsky: Let's see, he's already answered my first three questions. And I'm going to pass this over to Steve now. They are, after all, the true guardians of the Tower of London. I think we owe it to them for their service to the tower. So I thought it would be a really great idea if I could, as the Ravenmaster, for the first time that I know of in history, tell the ravens' story. The legends of the ravens have been wrote down in books, magazines, newspaper articles for well over 100 years, and throughout the world they are great stories, they are important stories, and I'd go so far as to say that they are now part of British national heritage. My fellow young warders share the wonderful legends of the ravens every day. Now I share this wonderful legend with our visitors at the Tower every day. There is a legend, should the ravens leave the Tower of London it will crumble into dust and a great harm will befall our kingdom. My official title is Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife of her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London and a member of the Sovereign of the Guard or the Yeoman of the Guard Extraordinary. I have what is often described as the oddest job in Britain. Skaife: Thank you so much for coming tonight it's been absolutely amazing to see you all here. This is obviously Christopher Skaife, the Ravenmaster. So I'm Steve Mirsky from Scientific American and I think that's the last you're going to hear from me tonight. On October 23rd I chatted with him at Caveat, the Lower Manhattan spot that bills itself as “the speakeasy bar for intelligent nightlife.” We spoke in front of a live audience. In which he discusses what it’s like to spend his days with these highly intelligent, mischievous birds. He’s the author and one of the subjects of the new book The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London. So the ravens at the Tower of London are all cockney they all speak like cockney." There is a difference in their vocalization as well ravens have a much more deeper, throaty type of vocalization, and it is believed that some of them actually have accents as well to where they live. On this episode:Ĭhristopher Skaife: "Sometimes I show a slide of a raven and a crow together and you can just see the actual size difference. Welcome to Scientific American’s Science Talk, posted on December 18th, 2018.
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