In 2012, the Tower of London welcomed two new inhabitants: a pair of ravens named Jubilee and Grip. Their arrival celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth. This Grip was the third of the Tower ravens to be named after the novelist’s own pet bird. One of his predecessors was resident during World War Two; he and his mate Mabel were the only ravens to survive a bombing attack on the Tower.
I have been studying my bird, and think I could make a very queer character of him
Dickens’s Grip, who had an impressive vocabulary, appears as a character in the author’s fifth novel, Barnaby Rudge. On 28 January 1841, Dickens wrote to his friend George Cattermole: “my notion is to have [Barnaby] always in company with a pet raven, who is immeasurably more knowing than himself. To this end I have been studying my bird, and think I could make a very queer character of him.”
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24-07-2015 15:00
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A birdwatcher saw a 5-day-old seal in an unusual place. She was in mud among a herd of cows. The man called for help and people rescued the seal.
Vets helped her rehydrate and gain weight. They also gave her antibiotics.
When she is at least 27 kilograms heavy and she is able to feed herself, they will release her back to the wild.
Nobody knows how exactly the seal got so far from the ocean. People named her “Celebration” and she is getting better.