Tower of London in popular culture
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Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
has been represented in popular culture in many ways. As a result of 16th and 19th century writers, the Tower has a reputation as a grim fortress, a place of torture and execution.
One of the earliest traditions associated with the Tower was that it was built by Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
; the story was a popular amongst writers and antiquaries. The earliest recorded attribution of the Tower to the Roman ruler dates to the mid-14th century in a poem by Sir Thomas Gray
Thomas Grey (chronicler)
Sir Thomas Grey of Heton , Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, was an English chronicler.-Family:He was a son of the Sir Thomas de Grey of Heaton , who was taken prisoner by the Scots at Bannockburn, and his wife Agnes Sir Thomas Grey of Heton (near Norham), Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland,...
. The origin of the myth is uncertain, although it may be related to the fact that the Tower was built in the corner of London's Roman walls. Another possibility is that someone misread a passage from Gervase of Tilbury
Gervase of Tilbury
Gervase of Tilbury or Gervasius Tilberiensis was a 13th century canon lawyer, statesman and writer, apparently born in either East Tilbury or West Tilbury, in Essex, England.-Life and works:...
in which he says Caesar built a tower at Odnea in France. Gervase wrote Odnea as Dodres, which is close to the French for London, Londres. Today, the story survives in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
and Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
, and as late as the 18th century some still regarded the Tower as built by Caesar.
- The Tower of LondonThe Tower of London (novel)The Tower of London is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1840. It is a historical romance that describes the history of Lady Jane Grey from her short-lived time as Queen of England to her execution.-Background:...
(1840) by William Harrison AinsworthWilliam Harrison AinsworthWilliam Harrison Ainsworth was an English historical novelist born in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in London he met the publisher John Ebers, at that time manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket...
though written in fictional form, contrives to give a detailed account of the history and architecture of the Tower. He however included extensive underground passages and dungeons which did not actually exist. - The Tower of London, as a place of death, darkness and treachery, is most famously evoked in William Shakespeare's play, Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
, where it forms the backdrop of Richard's seizure of the throne and the scene of the notorious murder of the Princes in the TowerPrinces in the TowerThe Princes in the Tower is a term which refers to Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. The two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville alive at the time of their father's death...
, and other victims (see above). A classic film version of this is Richard IIIRichard III (1955 film)Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...
(1955) with Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
in the title role. This story is also reprised in the historical horror film Tower of LondonTower of London (1939 film)Tower of London is a 1939 black-and-white historical film and quasi-horror film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price appears as...
(1939) and its 1962 remakeTower of London (1962 film)Tower of London is a 1962 historical drama and horror film, starring Vincent Price and Michael Pate. The film is a remake of the 1939 film of the same name, starring Price, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. Directed by Roger Corman, the film was produced by Edward Small Productions...
. - Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's 1888 comic opera The Yeomen of the GuardThe Yeomen of the GuardThe Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
, set at the Tower, has familiarised people throughout the English-speaking world with the Tower for over a century. This is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera involving an actual historical person, Sir Richard CholmondeleyRichard CholmondeleySir Richard Cholmondeley was an English farmer and soldier, who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1513 to 1520 during the reign of Henry VIII. He is remembered because of his tomb at the Tower of London and because he is fictionalized as a character in Gilbert and Sullivan's...
, Lieutenant of the Tower. - Apparitions of Anne Boleyn at the Tower are the theme of the song "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her ArmWith Her Head Tucked Underneath Her ArmWith Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm is a darkly humorous song, written in 1934 by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee, originally performed by Stanley Holloway...
". - The Mad Hatter MysteryThe Mad Hatter MysteryThe Mad Hatter Mystery, first published in 1933, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.-Plot summary:...
, a detective novel by John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
, where the Tower serves as scene of a murder (Harper & Row Inc., New York, 1933, 1961). - There was an adventure computer game called Traitors Gate released by Swedish Daydream Software in 1999. In the game, the player is an American agent who must secretly steal the crown jewels in 12 hours. The game took place in a CGI recreation of the whole Tower area.
- The Tower of London features frequently, and is described in exhaustive detail, in Neal StephensonNeal StephensonNeal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
's Baroque Cycle, especially The System of the WorldThe System of the World (novel)The System of the World, a novel by Neal Stephenson, is the third and final volume in The Baroque Cycle.The title alludes to the third volume of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which bears the same name....
, in which the tower is the setting for one of the series' grandest set pieces. - The Tower of London has featured twice in the long-running BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: in the 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas InvasionThe Christmas Invasion"The Christmas Invasion" is a 60-minute special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by aliens known as the Sycorax...
", it was the secret headquarters of the fictional military organisation UNITUNITUNIT is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures...
, and in the 2010 episode "The Beast BelowThe Beast Below"The Beast Below" is the second episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Steven Moffat and broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 10 April 2010....
" it was shown to be present on "Starship UK", a massive spaceship containing the population of Britain in the 29th century. - The Tower is the setting for the final battle in the anime version of HellsingHellsingis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in...
, where Alucard faces against Incognito. - The Tower is the setting for Johnny EnglishJohnny EnglishJohnny English is a 2003 British action comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. The film stars Rowan Atkinson as the incompetent titular English spy, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tim Pigott-Smith and Ben Miller in supporting roles...
when the crown jewels are stolen by Pascal Sauvage. - SentSent (novel)Sent is the second novel in The Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It was released on August 24, 2009.- Plot summary :Jonah, Katherine, Chip, and another boy, Alex, have no preparation before they are sent back to 1483 at the Tower of London. JB promises them that they can return to the...
by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Jonah and Katherine try to save their friends Chip and Alex from the Tower of London. - The Tower of London is often portrayed in the Bartimaeus TrilogyBartimaeus TrilogyBartimaeus is a fantasy series by Jonathan Stroud consisting of a trilogy published from 2003 to 2005 and a prequel novel published in 2010. The titular character, Bartimaeus, is a five-thousand-year-old djinni, a spirit of approximately mid-level power...
, by Jonathan StroudJonathan StroudJonathan Anthony Stroud is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and young adults.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Bedford, England, Stroud began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories...
, as a prison. - In the novel Stars and Stripes Triumphant, the Tower of London is partially destroyed by invading American ironclads.
- In the novel Too Many MagiciansToo Many MagiciansToo Many Magicians is a novel by Randall Garrett, an American science fiction author. One of several stories starring Lord Darcy, it was first serialized in Analog Science Fiction in 1966 and published in book form the same year by Doubleday...
by Randall GarrettRandall GarrettRandall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s...
, the character Sean O'Lochlainn is imprisoned in the Tower of London. - In the game Simcity SocietiesSimCity SocietiesSimCity Societies received mixed reviews. GameZone praised the game's increased accessibility and less "sterile" gameplay compared to previous titles in the SimCity series, and Game Informer concluded that the changes to the gameplay were "inventive"...
, one of the prison-like buildings, dungeon, looks-like the Tower of London. - The Tower of London was featured on 1000 Ways to Die1000 Ways to Die1000 Ways to Die is a docufiction anthology television series that premiered on May 14, 2008 on Spike. The program recreates unusual supposed deaths and debunked urban legends and includes interviews with experts who describe the science behind each death...
- In the anime series KuroshitsujiKuroshitsujiis a manga written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. Since its debut on September 16, 2006, it has been serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy....
(Black Butler) episode 20, Ciel's butler is tortured in the tower. The princes Edward V and Richard who were held prisoners in the tower also make an appearance as ghosts in episode 16. - In The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV in London in the...
, Prince John is shown as resident in and holding court in the tower. John's presence in The Tower is established through the use of photographs of the structure.