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Inside the Tower of London 2018 Season 9 Episode 2
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00:01It's the most visited palace and fortress in Britain.
00:05We're surrounded, we're literally saturated in history here at the Tower.
00:09The Tower of London has seen everyone from powerful royals.
00:12Elizabeth didn't know how long she was going to be held here, or even if she would leave alive.
00:18To notorious criminals.
00:20To Guy Fawkes.
00:21They've all set foot inside its walls.
00:24This is my favourite execution, but I love this one.
00:28Controversial!
00:30And it's still got plenty more stories to tell.
00:33Definitely a skull. I can see teeth.
00:37This time we're delving into one of its darker chapters,
00:41as we uncover the shocking story of the last man put to death at the fortress.
00:46This is where spies were executed.
00:50We'll reveal the secrets of his final moments.
00:54This is somebody's life ending.
00:57And meet the family, who had no idea what happened to him.
01:01All they knew was that he died during the war.
01:03He just disappeared off the face of the earth.
01:09Also in this episode, it's all changed in the beef eater ranks.
01:13After 13 years of service, the Tower's jailer hands over his axe.
01:18We are here for a historical blink of an eye.
01:20And I'm moving on.
01:22While another yeoman warder makes history.
01:24I will be now the first ever female yeoman sergeant.
01:28I'm still in shock.
01:30This is the Tower of London.
01:36Welcome to His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London.
01:42When it comes to the Tower's history, we tend to think of the greats.
01:47King Richard III.
01:48Queen Anne Boleyn.
01:49Queen Elizabeth I.
01:51But some of its most important moments have been in living memory.
01:56Now, ladies and gentlemen, the most significant threat to face the Tower of London
02:01throughout over 900 years was actually during the 20th century.
02:06This fortress sustained significant bomb strikes during the Blitz.
02:10During the Second World War, the fortress closed its doors to visitors.
02:15It was taken over by the military.
02:17Troops even set up their canteen in the White Tower.
02:21But some of their duties would recall the Tower's dark history.
02:27Historic Royal Palace's curator Kate Clements is investigating a section of the fortress
02:32that's far from the tourist trail.
02:35So this is where the yeoman warders and their families live.
02:38So it's quite residential, quite domestic.
02:40We're about to go to an area which has quite a darker past to it
02:44in the significance of the Tower.
02:46Armed with an old photograph, Kate is examining an innocent-looking location
02:51on the outer ward.
02:53Behind me, as you can see, is a car park.
02:56But I know from photographs that it used to be a rifle range here,
03:00just in this exact spot.
03:03And there's the Constable Tower and the Martin Tower,
03:06the rifle range in the middle.
03:10This is where the soldiers stationed in the Tower during the war
03:13could hone their shooting skills.
03:16But we know that it had another use.
03:18And this was the site where spies in the First and Second World War were executed.
03:24Contrary to popular belief, more people were put to death inside the Tower
03:28during the 20th century than in any other.
03:31By then, death was delivered not by axe, but by firing squad.
03:36When we think of executions at the Tower of London,
03:39we really think of headings and a crowd watching.
03:43But here, the executions that took place in this rifle range,
03:47these were completely different.
03:48This was enclosed.
03:49This was private.
03:50This wasn't a public spectacle.
03:53Eleven spies were shot at the Tower in World War I.
03:56They were the first people to be executed here in over 150 years.
04:02But only one spy was executed here in the Second World War.
04:06And his name was Josef Jakobs.
04:09He was also the last person ever to be executed at the Tower.
04:13Forty-three-year-old German spy Josef Jakobs faced a firing squad at the Tower
04:19on the 15th of August 1941.
04:21But his road to becoming a secret agent was an unlikely one.
04:26Kate is investigating Jakobs' astonishing story.
04:30So we have here some photographs of Jakobs with his wife, Margarita,
04:35and here are his children.
04:36And he looks like just a normal family man at the start of the 1930s.
04:42He was a successful dentist.
04:44He lived in Berlin with them, his lovely children, his wife.
04:49But by the time Hitler came to power, everything changed.
04:54Jakobs' business had failed.
04:56And he turned to illegal money-making schemes to make ends meet.
05:00But he soon found out that crime didn't pay.
05:03The Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, catch up with him.
05:06And unfortunately, he gets caught.
05:08He gets sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
05:13When he was released in March 1940, the war was raging.
05:21Germany needed to recruit secret agents.
05:25And before long, Jakobs was enlisted by military intelligence.
05:32We'll never know why he became a spy.
05:35Perhaps he thought he would keep the Gestapo off his back.
05:38But after just a few months of training, Jakobs was sent on his first mission.
05:44On the 31st of January 1941, despite speaking hardly any English, he was deployed to Britain.
05:52It was the start of a journey which would lead him to the tower.
05:57Kate has found a remarkable document which tells us exactly what happened.
06:03So I have here a copy of the interrogation of Yosef Jakobs, which was carried out after he was captured.
06:10During his questioning, Jakobs gave his account of his journey to England.
06:15He says how he was given a choice of coming by aeroplane, cutter or submarine.
06:21And he actually chose aeroplane because he hadn't been in one before and he was attracted to the adventure of
06:25it.
06:27Jakobs was flown behind enemy lines under cover of darkness.
06:32Now bear in mind that he hadn't practiced jumping out of an aircraft.
06:36He had no experience of this at all. He didn't know how to parachute.
06:40Jakobs jumped 3,000 meters and landed in a field in Cambridgeshire.
06:45But he'd broken his ankle during the jump and was unable to move.
06:51Jakobs must have been terrified at this point.
06:53He also has all these items on him that will make it very clear that he's a spy.
06:58He's got a wireless transmitter, he's got codes, he's got sort of a fake ID on him.
07:04So he's really there as a sitting duck.
07:06He knows he's going to get captured and it's not looking good for him.
07:11After lying all night out in the cold, Jakobs was discovered and taken in for questioning.
07:16And we know what happened next.
07:19So someone who's interrogated and assessed him says that,
07:22In my considered opinion, Jakobs, properly handled, may prove a useful double cross agent.
07:28It goes on to say that it's recommended that this could happen because Jakobs has a young family in Berlin.
07:36And it even says, I mean, in crude language, Jakobs is under the impression that we can liquidate these persons,
07:42his family, if he fails to do what we require.
07:46Any hopes Jakobs might have had for a new life as a double agent were dashed.
07:51Instead, he was put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to death.
07:56And what happened next would make tower history.
08:04The Royal Palace wasn't originally intended for imprisonment and punishment, but it has had hundreds of famous inmates over the
08:11years.
08:12Sir Walter Raleigh.
08:13The infamous Cray twins.
08:16Historically, the man in charge of looking after them was the Yeoman jailer, the second in command of the Yeoman
08:21body.
08:22That's been Clive Towel's role for the past two years, although these days it's more about beef eater rotas than
08:28prisoners.
08:29Thank you for stopping.
08:30Very nice to meet you.
08:31Since joining the Yeoman body in 2012, he's been a much loved figure amongst the Yeoman warders.
08:37Clive was my sergeant when I first came here.
08:39I don't think you could ask to work for a more supportive, more encouraging kind of guy.
08:43But now he is preparing to retire and move on to a new life.
08:48Gone will be his fellow beef eaters, the parades and the tourists.
08:52New adventures await.
08:55But saying goodbye to his flat in the 700-year-old Bywood Tower is going to be hard.
09:01Just getting ready to pack up, get things sorted out before the removals truck turns up and it all has
09:07to go.
09:08There's some serious downsizing needed for his new retirement home.
09:13One of the big problems is we're moving from a house with the Bywood Tower, which is amazing, onto a
09:21yacht, 44-foot yacht.
09:23So there isn't a lot of room for all of this stuff.
09:25It's only essential items and a few little personal bits that can go on.
09:29So what will you choose to remind him of his life at the Tower?
09:35You might recognise him.
09:37That's someone who looks very similar to me when I first got here.
09:41A little slimmer version.
09:42So I think this one's going to make it on the boat.
09:45After over a decade in the Yeoman body, there's a treasure trove of souvenirs,
09:50including from extraordinary moments in history.
09:53This is actually a painting, this one, and it's the coronation day if it's mostly the king.
09:59All the troops are marching up to Buckingham Palace.
10:04There hadn't been one for 70 years, you know, with the majesty of the queen before that.
10:08It was just an amazing day.
10:10So proud to have done that, and these are memories that I'll never forget.
10:15I think this one might make the cut.
10:17I think this one could make it in the boat.
10:21But it's not all about the tower.
10:24Some of Clive's most prized possessions go back to his 29 years in the armed forces.
10:30I joined the army in 1983.
10:32I was 15 years old, 11 months and two weeks.
10:37From my earliest memory, I've always wanted to join the army.
10:41All my aunties and uncles were in the Royal Navy,
10:43but I chose to follow my dad into the armour course.
10:46This was presented to me when I left.
10:48Very proud of that one.
10:49Now moving on and going into civilian life proper this time,
10:54and I just, yeah, I can't wait.
10:56I can't wait to do it.
11:00Coming up, curator Kate discovers exactly what happened on the day Josef Jacobs was due to face a firing squad.
11:07That's the closest we're going to get to seeing how it was all set up on the day of execution.
11:11And we discover what's put a smile on Beefeater AJ's face.
11:15I'm just so, so proud.
11:24The tower's jailer Clive Towell is leaving the fortress he's called home for 13 years.
11:31And Yeoman Sergeant John Donald, known as JD, is the man who has been promoted to take his place.
11:38He's getting used to the jailer's 13th century office in the Bywood Tower, which luckily has a modern day kitchen.
11:46Just going to make myself a coffee before I go back in the office and carry on the duties of
11:50a Yeoman jailer.
11:52The chief and jailer are supported by four senior beefeaters called Yeoman Sergeants, who help them keep everything running.
12:00Ah, proper job. Let's get back to work.
12:04Now JD has been promoted from sergeant to jailer, there's an opening for another sergeant to join the ranks.
12:11Any of the 30 Yeoman warders can apply for the promotion, and there's a rigorous interview process for those who
12:18do.
12:18You're right, folks. Just over there, the exit.
12:21The bosses have made their decision, and Yeoman warder AJ Clark has some exciting news.
12:27I'm very proud to announce that I am officially a Yeoman sergeant here at the Tower of London.
12:33I'm still in shock, absolutely ecstatic, and super excited to start my next adventure.
12:42When AJ joined the Tower in 2017, she was only the second woman ever to become a Yeoman warder, since
12:50they started guarding the fortress 500 years ago.
12:55So her new rank of sergeant isn't just a promotion.
13:00I will be now the first ever female Yeoman sergeant within the bodyguard, and it's never been done before, so
13:07it's once again breaking those glass ceilings.
13:09When people call out Yeoman sergeant, AJ Clark, I think that'll be, oh, that's me.
13:15I think it might take a few seconds for me to actually acknowledge that it's me.
13:21AJ and her fellow Yeoman warders are responsible for the security of the tower as the home of the crown
13:28jewels.
13:29Supporting them at all times is an escort of armed soldiers.
13:32But during the Second World War, the crown jewels were moved to Windsor Castle, and the fortress was once again
13:38used to guard prisoners.
13:40Rudolf Hess, deputy Führer of Nazi Germany. He was held in that house in May 1941.
13:48It may be a surprise to discover that Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's right-hand man, spent four days as a
13:55prisoner in the king's house.
13:57In 1941, Hess flew solo from Germany to Britain across the North Sea.
14:02He parachuted into a field in Scotland before his plane crash-landed.
14:07To this day, no one knows why the second-in-command of Nazi Germany flew to Britain.
14:15Just three months later, another captured German was brought to the tower, Josef Jakobs.
14:22Curator Kate Clements is visiting Emma Maudsley, keeper of tower armouries.
14:27She's going to show her something very special, a document written by one of the men present on the day
14:33of Jakobs' execution.
14:35Take a seat. Thank you. So, what do we have here?
14:39It's the Regimental Sergeant Major's orders for the day, the day of the execution of Josef Jakobs.
14:47Wow.
14:49Arthur Wilford was the Regimental Sergeant Major who assisted in the planning of Jakobs' final hours.
14:55This extraordinary document is his personal record of the schedule of the day.
15:01It is.
15:02And I notice it starts there at 5am. Yes.
15:04What have we got going on here? Yes.
15:05He gets up and then he goes to the miniature rifle range.
15:10Yeah. And then it also refers to, at about this time, 5.30, the prisoner arriving.
15:16Doesn't name him, just the prisoner. The prisoner.
15:19The Jakobs had been held in Wandsworth prison before he was brought to the tower to meet his end on
15:24the 15th of August 1941.
15:27Eight men would make up the firing squad, facing him in the rifle range.
15:31The order of the day reveals how their mourning unfolded.
15:35Six o'clock, breakfast.
15:37And then about 6.40, practice in their miniature rifle range.
15:41Right. OK. So, they actually practice the execution.
15:45These are just normal soldiers. Yes.
15:47These are just the battalion who was stationed here and this is not something they would have done before.
15:55No. No. No.
15:55The document describes in detail the process for the execution practice.
15:59Safety catches forward and take aim.
16:03When the word fire comes from the major, they fire.
16:08But the final step of this rehearsal reveals something surprising.
16:13File out, foot of steps and have a smoke.
16:17So, after this really quite heavy thing they're practicing, they have a cigarette.
16:22Quite often, soldiers were given cigarettes to calm their nerves by medical officers.
16:28They, they, they, they, they, it was seen as something to, to help them cope.
16:35Wilford's plan is so thorough that there's even an illustration showing the chair on which Jacobs was executed.
16:43I mean, that's the closest we're going to get to seeing how it was all set up on the day
16:48of execution.
16:48Indeed. Yep.
16:51But despite the meticulous detail of the document, when it comes to the execution itself, the description is minimal.
16:57712, it says, just one simple line, the above practice will be put into effect.
17:04And I think this kind of makes you feel that this is, this is something that, that, that is out
17:10of the ordinary.
17:12And, and he doesn't quite want to put those words down.
17:16Yeah.
17:16What the document doesn't record is that with his final words, Jacobs asked the soldiers to shoot straight.
17:25It's just someone's notes.
17:27Um, not an official document, not something that would have gone part of the official records.
17:32But I think it just shows that, that Wilford knew this was an important event.
17:37He just understood the significance, didn't he?
17:39And the historical moment of it, really.
17:42This is somebody's life ending and, and the, the people who, who took his life realising that, that a record
17:52should be kept.
17:53Should be kept of that. Absolutely. Yeah.
17:55The tower remained closed to the public for the rest of the Second World War, and reopened its gates in
18:021946.
18:05At each corner's a tower.
18:10These days, the fortress hosts thousands of visitors, and the beef eaters are always on hand to welcome them.
18:17Their boss is jailer Clive Towle, but his time in the role is coming to an end.
18:23He'll be missed. For Yeoman Warder Lawrence Watts, Clive's departure is especially poignant.
18:29Clive Towle is the reason I'm here as a Yeoman Warder.
18:32I came here for a visit, and I was lucky enough to go on to Clive Towle's tour.
18:36I decided to hang around afterwards. I just wanted to thank him.
18:38And it was he who actually told me there was a job going at the time.
18:40I'll be forever thankful for Clive and the impact that he had in changing my life and, and making sure
18:45that I'm here now.
18:46But before Clive can say goodbye, he has one last thing to do.
18:51He needs to hand over his 500-year-old jailer's axe to the man taking over his job, his old
18:57friend, JD.
18:59Shall we go and have a look at the axe?
19:00He's looking forward to it. Come on. Let's go.
19:02The Yeoman jailer's axe is kept locked away with the Chief Yeoman Warder's mace inside the beef eaters' private club.
19:11You got it? Yeah.
19:13It's thought to date from the reign of Henry VIII.
19:17Well, that is it. Ready to go.
19:18Good.
19:19Let me have a go at that.
19:21I'm not sure which way does the blade face. Is it face outwards or when you put it on your
19:25shoulder? Does it go over the back?
19:26Right. Well, traditionally, if the axe is pointing at someone, then it could be that they're condemned.
19:31So that is the traditional, so we try not to point at anybody. It's difficult because you tend to, when
19:36you're chatting, spinning it around and doing all this.
19:39JD will have to carry the axe on the most important dates in the tower's diary.
19:44So it's exactly the same drill, but all you've got to be careful is, eh, just keep it...
19:50Don't take your shoulder off.
19:51Cut your arm off.
19:51Cut your own ear off.
19:54And that is it.
19:55Excellent.
19:56Do you want to go?
19:57Yeah, why not?
19:57Alright.
19:58Okay.
20:01Try the slope.
20:03And the order.
20:05One, two, three, one, two, three, one.
20:09Perfect.
20:11Good to go.
20:11Yeah.
20:12You're the 52nd jailer since we've had jailers being recorded, so it is an absolute honour for you to carry
20:19it as it was for me.
20:21But it is yours, your web system. There are very few people who will get to handle that axe.
20:26And it's part of your appointment, part of your, I say, staff of office, really. That is you.
20:32It's a true honour, so thank you very much for all of that. I really appreciate all the advice.
20:35Now, do you want a little go, march down and down with it?
20:37No, I don't.
20:39Have a redrawn.
20:42With the axe now in JD's care, retirement is sinking in.
20:47Not having the responsibility of the axe is something that, um, I will miss it.
20:51It's been a great job, and it's been a great role, and to be, to be able to carry the
20:55axe as the young majority of the Tower of London is hugely, you know, it's a great privilege.
20:59And you feel that way when you're carrying it, you don't want to let anybody down, you want to put
21:03your best foot forward always.
21:05But, um, yeah, handing it on to John, who I know will do a good job with it, it just
21:09feels great, and I am so pleased to be doing that.
21:11So, I'll miss it, but, you know, we are here for a historical blink of an eye, and I'm moving
21:17on.
21:18For new jailer JD, great power comes with great responsibility.
21:22I've known Clive for 40 years, we both served together in the same regiment, the British Army, and, uh, he
21:28recruited me to come to the Tower some 11 years ago.
21:30So, I feel very honoured to have followed in his footsteps.
21:34Definitely big shoes to fill, and I'll do my best to come up to the stands that he's set.
21:43JD isn't the only Yeoman Warder getting used to a new role.
21:48AJ Clarke is now officially a Yeoman Sergeant.
21:52Her promotion means she has a bit more bling on her famous Beefeater uniform.
21:58To the untrained eye, may seem exactly like the boys and girls that are wearing on the ground, except for
22:03one slight difference, gold.
22:05I have got some magnificent gold on my cuffs, um, on my collar, but more importantly, I've got the four
22:13stripes of the sergeant on my arm.
22:15I'm the first ever female to be able to wear the uniform, uh, with the gold on it. I'm just
22:21so, so proud.
22:23AJ's new job means a lot of extra duties, including a starring role in one of the oldest military ceremonies
22:29in the world.
22:30I think the most important ceremony that any of the Yeoman sergeants do is the ceremony of the keys, the
22:36traditional locking up of the tower.
22:38It is a lot of pressure, but I know that I will do my best and I'll smash it.
22:44The ceremony of the keys can be traced back to a winter's night in the 1300s.
22:50King Edward III, who reigned during the Black Death, made a surprise visit to the tower and was able to
22:56walk into the famous fortress totally unchallenged.
23:00He was furious and ordered that from then on the gates should be locked up each night at sunset without
23:05fail.
23:06The ceremony is said to have taken place every evening for the last 700 years, but recent research is shining
23:14a new light on this.
23:17AJ is keen to investigate.
23:20So we're just heading to the King's house now, where I'm going to meet Minette Butler.
23:25She's a curator for Historic Royal Palaces.
23:28I'm going to have a little chat about the ceremony of the keys.
23:34Minette has been researching one of the most perilous moments in the tower's history, the Blitz.
23:40Between September 1940 and May 1941, enemy bombs rained down over London and the fortress itself came under fire.
23:49One particular night I've been looking at is the night of December the 29th, 1940,
23:54which is actually known as quite an intense night of the Blitz, which is very much saying something.
23:59Minette has a copy of the Yeoman Warder's log, which records what happened at the fortress that evening.
24:05We can see that nearly 50 incendiary bombs were dropped on the tower on this night,
24:10and they landed all across the fortress, including actually on the roof of the building we're sitting in now,
24:16here in the King's house.
24:17Now, thankfully, most of these incendiary bombs were caught quite quickly,
24:20but unfortunately there were so many of them that one of the bombs went undetected.
24:26This incendiary, or firebomb, started a blazing inferno in a Victorian building called the Main Guard,
24:33which once stood to the south of the White Tower.
24:36By the end of the night the building was almost completely gutted by the flames.
24:40What's really interesting is this last line here, where he says the ceremony of keys was dispensed with for a
24:47few nights.
24:47If ever there was a reason for it to be cancelled, that's a pretty damn good one, isn't it?
24:51Absolutely.
24:53The building destroyed by the bomb was right beside the root of the historic ceremony.
24:58We do actually have some photographs of what the remains of the main guard looked like after the war.
25:04So this photo here...
25:05Oh my goodness me.
25:07This is the path that we use for the ceremony of keys, even still today.
25:11The only thing that is going to stop us in our tracks is an act of war.
25:15Absolutely.
25:18Coming up, curator Kate meets the granddaughter of the last man to be executed at the tower.
25:24All they knew was that he died during the war. He just disappeared off the face of the earth.
25:29And the biggest restoration of the tower in decades causes a headache for Deputy Governor Anna.
25:34We're going to have to close the main entrance to the Tower of London.
25:45It's early evening. Once the sun has set...
25:49Bye there. See ya.
25:52Say phone.
25:54..and the last of the day's visitors have left,
25:56the tower's residents have the palace to themselves.
26:01It gives newly promoted Sergeant AJ time to prepare for the biggest responsibility of her new role,
26:07leading the ceremony of the keys,
26:10the nightly ceremony to officially lock the tower.
26:14Tonight, she's in charge for the first time,
26:17which means AJ will run the rehearsal for the troops taking part.
26:21But before kick-off, she's meeting up with her mentor,
26:25Yeoman Jailer JD, for some final words of wisdom.
26:29So, your briefing has to be meticulous,
26:32making sure they understand the timings, the key roles they have to play.
26:36We're going to do a full run-through,
26:38just so we can get positionings and, you know, just make it flow.
26:41If we have to practise that umpteen times,
26:43then that's what we're there to do,
26:45because obviously it's key to get it right actually on the ceremony.
26:48Definitely, but I'm good for a full run-through.
26:50I'm more than confident you're ready to go, so happy?
26:52Very happy.
26:52Should we go meet the troops?
26:53Let's do it.
26:53Come on, then.
26:55The ceremony of the keys has never been filmed.
26:58But the tower has granted permission to follow AJ for this evening's rehearsal.
27:05Troops, if you'd like to come on down, please.
27:07Just come down here.
27:08Just going to have a quick brief and then we'll get you set up.
27:13Right, guys, for those that don't know me, I'm AJ.
27:15I'm one of the Yeoman Sergeants here at the Tower of London.
27:17Most of the soldiers taking part tonight have never performed the ceremony before.
27:23This is probably the most important thing that we actually do here at the Tower of London,
27:26other than guarding the crown jewels.
27:29And if that wasn't enough pressure, they'd also have an audience.
27:34The public that are going to be watching are from all over the world.
27:37Australia, Canada, United States.
27:40JD is keeping a weather eye on AJ's progress.
27:44He's done really well there.
27:45I think the soldiers fully understand what's expected.
27:49Happy?
27:50Absolutely.
27:51Fabulous.
27:51Troops, let's do this.
27:53It's the soldiers' job to provide an armed escort for the king's keys, which AJ will carry.
28:01You're going to hear me coming up water lane because I'm going to jangle the keys.
28:05So it just gives you that little bit of time to get everybody into position.
28:10You're here to protect the keys.
28:11After AJ and the guard assume their position by the bloody tower...
28:15Right, so I've hunted you the lantern, we're good to go.
28:19I'm in the centre and it's on you now.
28:21The full rehearsal can begin.
28:23Escort to the kings, by the centre, quick, fast!
28:28The ceremony begins at 9.53pm on the dot.
28:31The middle and bywood tower gates must be locked before the clock on the Waterloo block strikes ten.
28:38It's AJ's job to keep everyone on time.
28:40She'll be mindful of whether or not she needs to step out and speed up a little bit
28:44or whether they're a little bit ahead of the game so they can slow down ever slightly.
28:48Slow, arms!
28:52Inwards.
28:53Turn!
28:56Standby.
28:57Up.
29:00Standby.
29:01Up.
29:02By the centre!
29:04Quick, arms!
29:06So we're getting into the most important part of the ceremony, which is the challenge.
29:10And again, looking at the time, she's pretty much there.
29:16The challenge is the moment when AJ is stopped by a century.
29:20And the words that follow are familiar the world over.
29:25Hold!
29:26Let's go!
29:27Hold!
29:29Let's go!
29:30Who's gone, sir?
29:31The keys!
29:34After passing the challenge, AJ has to make it back to the steps for her grand finale.
29:40His Majesty's Tower of London Guard and Escort, present!
29:47Up!
29:51God preserve King Charles!
29:55Amen!
30:00Then I'll come, take the lantern off you, and I'll make my way.
30:05Help!
30:07Help!
30:09That's a wrap.
30:10March!
30:12I thought it was fabulous.
30:14Everybody was in the right place at the right time.
30:17So, yeah, we are literally good to go.
30:20But what did the jailer think of AJ's rehearsal?
30:23So, how was that?
30:25Perfect.
30:25Couldn't ask for anything more there.
30:26You nailed every key part of that as well, so I think you're good to go tonight.
30:30So, well done.
30:30Brilliant, thank you.
30:31It's really exciting, actually.
30:32I know, yeah.
30:33Can't wait.
30:33Right, time for team medals now.
30:35Absolutely.
30:35Okay.
30:36Lead the way.
30:36Come on.
30:39Once the tower is locked for the night, it won't open again...
30:46..until 9am the next morning,
30:49when the Royal Palace welcomes a fresh wave of visitors.
30:57Seven miles away, curator Kate Clements is visiting a small chapel in north-west London.
31:03She's meeting someone with a very personal connection to Josef Jacobs, the German spy executed at the tower in 1941.
31:11Hey, Giselle.
31:12Hi.
31:13So nice to meet you.
31:14Thanks for coming.
31:15Thanks.
31:15Giselle Jacobs is Josef's granddaughter.
31:18In the 1950s, her father, Raymond, who was one of Josef's children, emigrated from Germany to Canada.
31:26So, Giselle, how well did you know about your grandfather's story when you were growing up?
31:29I really didn't know who he was.
31:31All I knew was he had died during the war.
31:33Right.
31:33I only learned that my grandfather was Josef Jacobs when I was an adult, really.
31:40Josef's wife and children back in Berlin were never officially told what had become of him.
31:46When Giselle discovered her grandfather's identity, she set out to uncover the truth.
31:52Her investigation brought her to London, where she was given something that would change everything.
31:59Incredibly, her grandfather's final letter to his wife had survived.
32:05That is amazing.
32:07Yes.
32:07I can't believe this is the actual letter.
32:09That is incredible.
32:11It is amazing.
32:11And tragic, too, because we had this letter, and on the cover it was to have been delivered
32:18to my grandmother at the end of the war.
32:20And it sat in MI5's files for 40, 50, 60 years.
32:24So, when we received it, it was still sealed.
32:27And my mother had come to visit us, and we were actually able to have her read it out loud
32:33to us because, as you can see, the handwriting, I can't read German script, I'm sorry.
32:40But my mother could, and my sister and I were there, and she started reading, and we just broke down
32:47sobbing.
32:49Jacobs wrote this letter just hours before his execution.
32:53And, I mean, honestly, some of the things that he writes, in just five hours,
32:58he is going to be taken to the Tower of London and shot.
33:03After having been convicted of espionage.
33:07And that's a really poignant comment, because growing up, my dad said they really never knew what happened to Joseph.
33:16All they knew was that he died during the war.
33:18Wow.
33:19He just disappeared off the face of the earth.
33:21And that left my grandmother really quite heartbroken.
33:25Yeah.
33:26One of the other things I really noticed in this letter, aside from the handwriting, which starts off very neat
33:31and tight and crisp,
33:32and then sort of degenerates on the third page, is he says goodbye multiple times, particularly on this last page.
33:41So he's struggling to sign off, really?
33:46He doesn't want to say goodbye.
33:47Mm.
33:49And at the very end, he draws a circle and he says, my last kiss for all of you.
33:57And that, I think, was the hardest thing for me, was, you know, he never got to deliver that.
34:06And this letter, which I think would have meant so much to Magdalene.
34:13Yeah.
34:14To his children.
34:15It was never delivered.
34:19And I don't know why.
34:24After his execution, Josef Jacobs was buried here, in northwest London, at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery.
34:31His grave is now lost.
34:34But his name is still remembered.
34:37In 2012, I contacted the chapel here and asked for a line to be engraved on one of these larger
34:43plaques.
34:45And I came here in August 2012 with my father, and I was able to show him the line that
34:52commemorates Josef's final resting place here.
34:57That must have been so special to be able to do that.
34:59It was exceedingly special for my father to actually, in some way, lay his own father to rest, you know,
35:07decades later.
35:18Every year, millions of visitors make their way through the tower's ancient gates.
35:24Keeping everything running smoothly is the responsibility of newly appointed deputy governor, Anna Kimber.
35:31But a massive new project is about to disrupt that in a big way.
35:36We've got a major piece of conservation work coming up for the middle tower and the causeway.
35:42The first thing we're going to have to do is put scaffolding up across the causeway and over the middle
35:47tower.
35:48And one of the consequences is that we're going to have to close the main entrance to the Tower of
35:53London.
35:53The middle tower and the causeway that passes over the moat were built over 700 years ago.
36:01Over the centuries, the causeway has carried countless processions along with millions of tourists.
36:08But for the foreseeable future, this entrance will be out of use, which will mean a massive disruption to everyday
36:15life at the tower.
36:16When you've got a thousand-year-old buildings, actually, there is a bit of wear and tear, like there is
36:20a bit of everything.
36:22Conservatively, I think we're looking at around six months.
36:26But honestly, it depends on what they find, like everything at the tower.
36:32For now, the 10,000-plus daily visitors have been redirected through the middle drawbridge on Tower Wharf.
36:42Make sure you grab yourself some map, just come in.
36:44And luckily, the Beefeaters have been preparing for this.
36:47Where's the best place to start?
36:49Right here.
36:50Right here.
36:51Right here.
36:52And the scaffolding can go up, ready for the conservation work to begin.
36:57Coming up, it's time for Jailor Clive to bid a fond farewell to the tower.
37:02It's been an amazing 13 years, brilliant.
37:05Loved every minute of it, but I am in my last 10 minutes of being in uniform now.
37:09And as the conservation work begins, all is not well in the moat.
37:13The weathering and the damage is really quite bad.
37:15It's really just like sponge and crumbles in your hand.
37:27It's full steam ahead for the massive restoration of the tower's historic entrance.
37:33But Yeoman Warder Tam Riley is having to deal with the disruption it's causing the Beefeaters.
37:39We've got quite a large conservation project going on with the middle tower and the causeway on my right-hand
37:46side here.
37:47And that's caused quite a few problems for our tours.
37:50Normally, we start our tours down in the moat.
37:53We can't do that at the moment.
37:55We'd have to start the tours at the bell tower or on Water Lane.
37:59So we've had to adapt the tour.
38:02Despite the disturbance, the show must go on.
38:05Good afternoon, everyone.
38:07Oh, we're doing all right.
38:13Behind the scenes and scaffolding, site manager James Whitbread is hard at work.
38:20Centuries of exposure to the great British weather have caused serious problems to the moat causeway.
38:25The weathering and the damage is really quite bad.
38:30Once you start getting cracks running through it, the water penetrates.
38:35It's really just like sponge and crumbles in your hand.
38:40The weather damage to some blocks in the causeway is so severe that they put the whole structure at risk.
38:47They will have to be painstakingly removed, then replaced with new ones.
38:52It's really about being sort of patient but persistent.
38:59You do want to be particularly careful with structures like this.
39:03I mean, there are elements of the causeway that go back to Edward the first time.
39:09Some of the stone in the wall is really ancient.
39:12After a spot of heavy lifting, all the damaged stonework is extracted,
39:16and the wall can be prepared for its rebuild.
39:19James is handing over this next stage to stonemason Jonah Rollison.
39:25He's quite a young mason, relatively newly qualified, but he's picking things up really well.
39:32The replacement white stones reveal what the causeway might have looked like when it was brand new 700 years ago.
39:38Jonah has to find exactly the right position for each one so that it sits flush with its ancient setting.
39:44It's always a fiddly game. You're constantly adjusting.
39:48Working on a world heritage site like the tower is a completely new experience for him.
39:54I'm straight out of college. I've been doing masonry for the last about two and a half years.
39:59You know, heritage and any kind of restoration, conservation work is why I got into this.
40:05And it's a real pleasure to be working on somewhere like the tower.
40:09Every day you're learning something new and you've got some of the old guard here who've been doing this job
40:13for, you know, 30, 40 years,
40:15which is an amazing experience to draw from.
40:18After a few last tweaks, it's job done.
40:22I'd say that I'm happy with this. I'm happy with the flushness.
40:26Now he's aligned the stones perfectly, it's time for Jonah to fix them in place.
40:31He uses mortar specially chosen to match the look of the original.
40:35I love doing this job. You're kind of adding to a history that will be here for far longer than
40:41you are.
40:43It's great to have chaps like Jonah involved in the project
40:46because it gives an opportunity for some of the more experienced guys to pass on the knowledge that we've gained
40:53from our predecessors.
40:54Keep it all being handed down through the generations and keep the craft, keep the trade alive. It's good.
41:00But the hard work on this mammoth conservation project has only just begun.
41:06It's going to be a bit of a bigger job than just these two stones.
41:10So it's going to be a long way to go. It's so far so good.
41:18Over on the outer ward, Yeoman Jailor Clive has only a few minutes left before his tower career draws to
41:24a close.
41:25But before he bids farewell to the fortress, he's visiting one of the most important places from his 13 years
41:31here.
41:32Right, so we're going to go to the Constable Tower, which is just up here.
41:37This was my first house when I came to the Tower of London in 2012.
41:43I've lived in a few places before, but nothing like this.
41:48Barracks all over the world, essentially, but living in the castle, living in the Tower of London, that's icing on
41:56the cake.
41:56Since becoming a Yeoman Warder, Clive has had some extraordinary times at the Tower.
42:04From taking part in epic gun salutes, to parading in spectacular ceremonies.
42:13But now, Clive is finally saying goodbye.
42:18Thirteen years at the Tower, Yeoman Warder, Yeoman Sergeant, Yeoman Jailor.
42:22Been an amazing 13 years, brilliant. Loved every minute of it, but I am in my last ten minutes of
42:28being in uniform now.
42:29So I'm looking forward to getting out of this uniform, having a shower, packing it all up and moving on,
42:34yeah.
42:35Next time, the Tower conducts its biggest dig in decades.
42:40A once in a generation opportunity to learn more about one of the most important historic sites in the country.
42:47Yeoman Sergeant A.J. Clark leads her team in one of the oldest parades in the world.
42:52I've seen it on the television, but to be part of it is something else. It is absolutely magical.
42:57And we discover the remarkable connection between the Tower and the Cray twins.
43:03It all started with that altercation of the Tower of London.
43:32We'll see you then.
43:33What has the issue now gone further?
43:35A few years before…
43:35How do you think the-
43:35One event now?
43:35And we'll see.
43:35You
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