HISTORICAL STORY.

STORY : Sent to the tower The first prisoner of the Tower, Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham was also the Tower's first escapee. In 1101 he climbed through one of the White Tower's windows using a rope smuggled to him in a gallon of wine. Over 800 years later, on 15 August 1941, Josef Jakobs was the last person to be executed by firing squad at the Tower, having been found guilty of spying for Germany during the Second World War. In between, the Tower has held in custody Scottish Kings and French Dukes, young princes and princesses and lords, ladies and archbishops, alongside common thieves, religious conspirators and even a few politicians. Image: White Tower from the South © Historic Royal Palaces.