Held In The Tower Trivia Quiz

Answer: Flora MacDonald

Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie and The Young Pretender, led the uprising which attempted to overthrow George II in 1745, culminating in the Battle of Culloden in 1746. MacDonald assisted in disguising Stuart as an Irish maid and securing his passage from the Outer Hebrides to the Isle of Skye, an act for which she was imprisoned initially in the Tower, although she was eventually allowed to reside outside the Tower under supervision.

She was released in 1747 and the tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie's escape is told in "The Skye Boat Song"(1888).

Answer: Robert Walpole

Walpole was MP for King's Lynn when he was accused of venality (capable of being bribed) and corruption. He was found guilty and as well as being sent to the Tower, was also expelled from Parliament. Following his release he stood once again for election in King's Lynn and was re-elected, being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1715, a post he held until 1717.

In 1721, following a corruption scandal within the government, he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons, in effect becoming the first Prime Minister, a position he held until 1742 when he resigned.

Answer: Bishop of Durham

Following the death of William I (William the Conqueror) in 1087, Flambard served William II (William Rufus) and assumed responsibilities for raising revenue for the Crown. As a reward for his efforts, he was made Bishop of Durham in 1099, but was made a scapegoat for the embezzlement committed during Rufus' reign by the new king, Henry I. Flambard was imprisoned in the Tower, but also became the first person to escape from the Tower, which he did by way of a rope, allegedly smuggled in to him by friends in a flagon of wine.

Answer: Rudolf Hess

Although the Tower was by 1941 a tourist attraction, when Hess landed in Scotland on his peace mission, Winston Churchill instructed that, following his initial stay of captivity at Buchanan Castle, he be held at the Tower. Hess was imprisoned at the Tower for just a few days, before being transferred to Mytchett Place in Surrey, where he spent the next 13 months.

In 1942, he was moved to Maindiff Court Hospital in Wales, where he remained until the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Found not guilty of either war crimes or crimes against humanity, Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against peace and served his time in Spandau prison until he took his own life in 1987 aged 93. Between 1966 and 1987, he had been the only inmate in the 600 cell prison.

Answer: Guy Fawkes

All of the possible answers were involved in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament by James I, but it is Fawkes that the annual celebrations are named after and whose effigy is burned on countless bonfires each year.

A veteran of fighting in the Spanish Netherlands, Fawkes was in charge of the explosives, and when authorities received an anonymous tip off, it was Fawkes that was discovered along with the barrels of gunpowder. He was taken to the Tower for questioning and after severe interrogation, revealed the names of his co conspirators and admitted to his part in the plot.

He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered as was the practice for high treason, and although he was drawn (dragged) from the Tower to the execution site at Westminster, he avoided being hanged by throwing himself from the gallows, breaking his neck on landing.

He was still quartered though and his body parts displayed as a deterrent to other potential traitors. I guess the Crown figured that two out of three ain't bad.

Answer: Anne Boleyn

Anne lodged at the Tower in splendour prior to her marriage to Henry VIII in 1532, and was crowned as queen consort in 1533. Alas, just three years later in 1536, after failing to provide Henry with a male heir, she was arrested on fictitious charges of adultery, treason and an incestuous affair with her brother and imprisoned in the Tower before being found guilty.

She was beheaded on May 19th 1536.

Answer: Failure to Report for National Service

In March 1969, the twins were sentenced to life imprisonment, without being allowed to apply for parole for 30 years for the murders of George Cornell and Jack "The Hat" McVitie, but prior to that in 1952, they were conscripted to the Royal Fusiliers as part of National Service which ran in UK until 1960.

Although they reported for duty, that was all they did, reported and left. When an officer tried to stop them leaving, Ronnie punched him before walking out. Following their arrest the next day, they were held at the Tower before being transferred to a military prison for court martial.

Whilst in military prison, they fought with guards and inmates, set bedding on fire, handcuffed a guard to a cell and generally behaved so badly that they were given dishonourable discharges from the service.

Although this discharge did kill both of the twins' promising boxing careers, it did allow them to go on with their life of crime.

Answer: Sir Walter Raleigh

Raleigh had previously been imprisoned in the Tower in 1592 for marrying Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the ladies-in-waiting of Queen Elizabeth I, without the Queen's permission the previous year. He was released after a short time but after the queen died in 1603, was imprisoned again by King James I for allegedly plotting against him.

His 13 years in the Tower were comfortable though and his wife and children were allowed to live with him for a time and he managed to father another son, Carew while a prisoner.

He also found time to write the majority of his book, "The Historie of the World" while in the Tower before being released in 1616 with orders to find the lost city of El Dorado.

Answer: 1941

Josef Jakobs was the man who found himself written into the history books on August 15th 1941. Jakobs was a Nazi spy who parachuted into the country but broke his ankle on landing and was found by two Cambridgeshire farmers in a field with forged documents, £500 in cash, a radio transmitter and a German sausage.Following a trial lasting two days, Jakobs was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.

His execution took place at the Tower by military firing squad and he was buried in an unmarked grave in Kensal Green, London.

Answer: William Wallace

The famous quote is as uttered by Mel Gibson in the 1995 movie "Braveheart" about the life of Wallace. When he was charged with treason, he famously responded, "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject", but that didn't stop him being found guilty and being hanged, drawn and quartered.

He was cut down from the gallows while still alive and emasculated, then eviscerated and had his bowels burned in front of him before being quartered. His limbs were displayed separately in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling, and Perth as a warning to others and his head was stuck on a pike on London Bridge.