Latest / Beheaded / Special Edition: Interview with Megan Clawson

Transcript

Special Edition: Interview with Megan Clawson · Beheaded

0:04
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Beheaded.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to a special edition episode featuring Megan Clausen, who actually lives in the Tower of London and is authored to a new book, Falling Hard for the Royal Guard, which is due out in April in the UK and May in North America.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: Hi, Megan Moore, and I'm Elizabeth Black.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: And Megan Clausen will go ahead and have you introduce yourself.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Megan Clausen, and I am very, very excited to be here.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for having me on.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm so excited to be able to chat with you.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure you probably actually know more about my house than I do, which um might be a little bit embarrassing, but no, I'm excited to have a chat.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: No, that is far from the truth.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: I while I am obsessed with the Tower of London, I mean you're living in it every day.
0:49
SPEAKER_02: And I I have so when I went, I got a season pass, and my husband was like, Really, we're just spending a week in London.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, no, I need the season pass.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: And I went back like three or four times, I think.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: But um came across your account on Instagram, which is very popular.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: Over 70,000 followers.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: TikTok is even wilder.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: How has that been just growing your account and sharing your experience of what it's like to live in the Tower of London?
1:16
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna say that every single sentence, right?
1:18
SPEAKER_02: The Tower of London.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna end it there with every single Yeah, it's it's just been absolutely crazy.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Like I really never did set out to kind of be an influencer or or even somebody that had a big social media presence anyway.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: It was just kind of, we were coming out of lockdown.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: I just graduated uni.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't really know what I'm doing.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: I'll just hop on some trend.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: And it just went crazy.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hey, people think my life is interesting, and it kind of made me have like a whole new appreciation for what I was doing and kind of gave me a slap in the face and was like, this experience is amazing.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy it, share it with the world, and yeah, it's been been brilliant to see how it's it's blown up and the fact that I've been able to teach more people across the world about the tower and the beef eaters and all of that kind of stuff.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: It's been it's been a great experience.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm right there with you.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: I'm totally fascinated by it, and I'm so glad you are sharing your private life to the world because a lot of people don't even realize there are it's very, very, very select.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: But can you tell us a little bit maybe of how long you've been living there?
2:33
SPEAKER_02: How did you get started living at the Tower of London?
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Is that a thing?
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um I moved in.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, my dad's lived here since like the end of 2017, start of 2018.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I moved to London in 2018 for university, and I said to myself, I've come from a small town, I'm moving to London, I'm not gonna just move in with my dad, that's not cool.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: I want to go out and make some friends.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then lockdown happened halfway through my second year.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so yeah, I ended up um a short time after that, just um come in here, live in here, because I I realised halfway through, I was like, what am I doing?
3:13
SPEAKER_00: My dad is literally living in a castle, and I'm in a a damp house um quite far out in London.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, I had the a real privilege then to to make that decision, and I and I'm so grateful for that every single day.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so it's it's the people that get to live here are um the beef eaters and their families if they choose to come, um, and then a few of the other um like kind of wardens of the tower, um the people that like look after the crown jewels and things like that.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: So um there's there's a small village behind the walls, and there has been for um almost the the full time that the tower has been what it is.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I'm I'm so grateful to be part of this history, even though sometimes I feel like I'm probably the least relevant person that's ever lived in the tower when you've got you've got people your predecessors are kings and queens.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, I do feel like a bit of a fraud, but it's um yeah, it's it's a lovely place to live, definitely.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: Not a fraud at all.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And can I say kudos to you for trying to be independent?
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not gonna live with my dad, even though my dad lives in a castle.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: Who are you trying to strike out on your own first and then realizing, you know, maybe maybe I should live in the castle?
4:24
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty cool.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: That's a good experience.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that'd be no, that would not be up for discussion for me.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: Like, I am family, I have a right to be here.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: Megan might ask her dad to be adopted soon, just so she can go with it.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: That's not a bad idea.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: Hey.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: I was like, well, maybe I shouldn't have said that.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: I'll get the papers ready.
4:41
SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll we'll go the legal way about it.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: I'll get the adoption papers and everything set up.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Megan's only 33.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: Um anyway.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, but before uh you obviously lived in the tower, did you did you visit the tower often?
4:56
SPEAKER_01: Or what was your experience like with the tower prior to living there?
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Um I had only ever been once before when I was really, really young.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of like didn't really remember.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: So, like me and my whole family went on um like a little weekend trip to London.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, like because we'd never we'd we'd come down every now and again for like a concert or whatever when I got a bit older.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it was it was like a big treat to go to London, and um yeah, we came once um to the tower, and I'd just kind of totally forgotten about it or kind of separated it in my head that it was like when my dad said about being in the Tower of London, I did what everybody does and seems to, and thought that he was going to be living in Tower Bridge.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: That was my instant thought.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: I was like, How how are you gonna live in a bridge?
5:43
SPEAKER_00: And then um then, yeah, I I found the the photos of me and my my older brother um in the tower with um a beefy to mascot and everything, and then it kind of clicked, and we were like, Oh wait, no.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: And then obviously before that I understood that the Tower of London was um the Tower of London and not Tower Bridge.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, so I'd been once before, but but very, very young, and I still like it, still feels like a totally different place to to like since I've lived here.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so it was it was quite it's quite strange the fact that I visited so long ago and then all of a sudden I was I was living here.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's very, very interesting.
6:26
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's like Disneyland.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: Like you love Disneyland as a kid, then all of a sudden you get to live inside of Disneyland, right?
6:33
SPEAKER_01: With all the cats, the Disneyland, the Disneyland cats, yeah.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: That's how I envision the Tower of London, and that is my Disneyland.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: So it's my happy place.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: Um there's I'm sure a lot of questions and a lot of curious people about what it's like living within the most infamous you know residence.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, one of the oldest, been around since the 1100s, one of the oldest castles in England.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, what are some popular misconceptions about living in the tower?
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, so one of the main things that I get, and especially when I first started on TikTok, um when I said, Oh, I live in the Tower of London, people were going, Oh, that must be so damp and cold, and like, and I think that they immediately assumed that I was living in some sort of dungeon that's just not changed since the the 11th century.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, that was that's something that's quite funny.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: And I have to preface whenever I have guests come over for the first time, I have to preface their their visit by going, Look, it's gonna disappoint you.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: You're expecting four poster beds and stained glass windows and like torture devices hanging around places, and actually, it's just like a regular house.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stairs and a few arrow slits, but it it's it feels like a regular house when you're inside it.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: It's just when you go outside and you are in the Tower of London that it's like, oh wow, this is this is insane.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so a lot of people just think that I am like some sort of prisoner or um or a royal, which I I I would take that.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Like that that's fine by me.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: You can think I'm a princess.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, they they think I live in some damp dark dungeon, and it's it's really not.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, right.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: It is a little disappointing.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, I feel like Megan Moore is a bit disappointed by that.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: We'll just wrap up the interview now about if you don't live in a dungeon, then we're done.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: But I feel like that's that could be a misconception, not even in modern day with you and and the other residents, but even like Anne Boleyn, for example, was not held in a dungeon.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: She also had beautiful apartments and probably a four-poster bed while she was being held in the tower.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I feel like there's all these different layers of how the Tower of London is, and there's different versions of it, right?
8:55
SPEAKER_02: There's the pretty parts, the not so pretty parts, gardens.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: And you have a dog, right?
9:01
SPEAKER_02: And your dog runs around.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have a little dog called Ethel, and she's like the most spoilt dog in the country, I'm sure.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: She's got the whole moat to run around in.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: But that like the guests here have always been treated well.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: There's um the the guy that um petitioned the king to give the the yeoman warders their um their royal bodyguard status back.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Because when when Henry VIII moved his um a yeoman of the guard to Hampton Court Palace, he left a few yeomen behind to take care of the tower, and they were just kind of stripped of their their royal bodyguard status.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until um some somebody was held in the tower.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: I think it was either the Duke of Somerset or something like that.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Don't quote me on that.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Um it was a Duke of something, and he um was was kept in the tower as a prisoner, and he was released, and he actually petitioned the king after that and said how well he'd been looked after by the yeoman orders in the tower, that please can they have their royal bodyguard status back in their red Tudor uniform back?
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, because he'd been so well looked after as a prisoner in the Tower of London.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it was five out of the five stars would recommend preview.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: That's so funny.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Um when when Megan Moore, and I have to say your last names just to make it you know easy for the listeners to understand.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, but when Megan Moore discovered your Instagram and she had told me about it, one of the first videos we watched was talking about um how hard it is to get takeout.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: And we really want to know really how hard is it to get your your Uber Eats, or do you guys have Uber Eats over there, or is it your cash?
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, it's honestly, well, it it varies.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can be like it's fine, and then other times you are literally chasing the rider around like the whole of Tower Hill.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Um because they it's so obviously I have to put in where where I am, but they can't come into the tower, so they can't come to my front door.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: I have to go to the main entrance of the tower and collect it there.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: But even just the rider getting there it is often quite difficult, and I have to put in so many details of like, okay, go to the entrance of the Tower of London, it's opposite a Starbucks, or just meet me at the Starbucks.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: I know the Starbucks you're talking about.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: For some reason, I would have thought that finding a Starbucks in London, because there are just millions, that it would be like a needle in a haystack, but they are so much better at finding a Starbucks in central London than they are a whole castle in central London.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it's often a little bit bit difficult.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the most iconic like place you could probably find in London.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: They're like, When where is that again?
11:51
SPEAKER_01: I've been to that Starbucks you're talking about.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Um actually, I had a like the coolest moment ever when I I made a purchase of a tapestry at one of the gift shops.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: It was the gift shop inside of the White Tower.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: And um, I I was staying in a hotel across the street.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: I went back and I owned, did it.
12:09
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, they got the wrong one.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: I wanted the jousting scene.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: I and I got something else.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: And it was the most exciting part of my trip because I went up to the front of the ticket.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: I was like, I just need to exchange this.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: I got the wrong one.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: And they didn't have it in the outside gift shop, it was only in that one.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: And they escorted me through, and I got to go like the back way to the gift shop of the White Tower gift shop.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, this is what it feels like to live here.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I I've always wanted to be escorted through the Tower of London, but I felt like a little bit of like a resident.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: I felt like I had a little bit of a higher status in that moment.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: That's exciting.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, and really quick as a follow-up too to the uh to the takeout question.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Did there are there people that like don't believe you that you live there when you're like, oh, just take it to the Tower of London, that's where I live?
12:58
SPEAKER_01: Are they like, okay, like prank order?
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you don't live there.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, does anyone ever doubt that?
13:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some sometimes it's mostly like just kind of Uber drivers as well, that they're like, oh, I'll just drop you like here.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: They think I'm just going like in the general direction of the Tower of London, and that's like I've just put it in because I don't want to tell them my real address.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, and and so I that I've been on on many times where I've been out with friends, and it's one of those things that I hate to, I don't know what it is.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: I hate to just come out with it.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: So when people are like, Oh, like whereabouts do you live?
13:32
SPEAKER_00: I go, Oh, like Tower Hill, and they're like, Oh yeah, whereabouts, I know that.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: And they're I was like, Oh, like right next to Tower Bridge.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: And I I don't know what it is.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: I just hate to go, oh yeah, I live in the Tower of London.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: I know on my social media that's what I do, but like in a general conversation, I just feel like everyone will think that I'm bragging or whatever.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: So it's um I've even had friends where they've walked me home or something like that.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: Like friends that I've had for a couple of years, and um and yeah, they've they've walked home with me, and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm I'm heading in here, and they're like, that that's the Tower of London.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: Like what?
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Surprise.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: That's where I live.
14:13
SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: So interesting.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: Is there a separate like residence exit and entrance?
14:18
SPEAKER_00: Then I'm assuming.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Um not not really.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: There are a couple of like secret little quick entrances you can go through, but most of the time it's um, yeah, it's most of the time it's just with um the general public, and you either are like you you well, there there's one entrance that is kind of only used by people that like either live or work there.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, most of the time it's just the the same, the same places as everybody else.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: So you have to kind of fight your way through sometimes, especially if it's closing time and it's like you're going against the wave of people coming and you're like waving through.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: Um but no, yeah, there are there are plenty of different ways for us to get in, so it's it's not too bad.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: That's such a boss move for you to not tell someone and then they're just dropping you off at home, and you're like, okay, goodbye.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: I live right here.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: That's like, I mean, the equivalent in America would be like you live in the White House, like like that movie with the president's daughter.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: How did I know you were gonna bring this up?
15:13
SPEAKER_02: This is like a strong 1990s Disney.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's the 1990s, like Disney Channel original.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: What's his name?
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Well, Fredell.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know the other in that.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, but he doesn't believe it, and he's like, Oh, you live in the White House.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Yep, I'm the president's daughter.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's what I feel like the comparison in our culture.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I get that.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: I get that, yeah.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that sometimes as well.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm I'm like the the queen's secret granddaughter or something that yeah, nobody else knows about, and she's locked in the tower all a secret, I wish, but no, I'm a lot more boring than that.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: Close enough.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, so definitely some challenges, I'm sure, logistically speaking, of living in the tower.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: But what are your favorite parts that you would never give up?
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, pretty much like the community of it, I think.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, like the beef eaters in general are just brilliant people to be around.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, like I find myself having better and more comfortable conversations with these these men and women that are like the same age as my dad, and and we're all friends, like they don't they obviously act like I'm like not a child, but they're somebody that is in their protection.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: So my boyfriend gets it all the time that oh if you um if you mess around, you're getting buried in the moat, kind of thing.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: They have has that that threat quite often, but um yeah, so it's the the beef eaters, just as people and as people to talk to and have a drink with and all of that kind of stuff, they're brilliant.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: You you walk in, and like when I first moved to London, um it was quite difficult because I came from a small town, and in London it can be quite like you you you feel quite distant from a lot of other people because everyone's so busy about their lives that nobody kind of stops just for a random chat.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And then when I moved in for the first time, and like even the security guards were like, Hey, how are you?
17:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, just as soon as I walked through the gate, and it was like, Oh my god, this is such a community and such a lovely place to be in in the centre of a city that you don't always get that kind of um village friendliness that that I I was used to back home.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Um so it was it was really nice, and it yeah, just just the people are are are amazing and um they've all got such different stories um and they have so much to say.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Like you could you you can't go to the keys that the bar in the in the tower for just one pint.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: You you're just in there for hours because you're just talking.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: That and they I've known these people for for years now, and they still come out with things that surprise me.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh my god, like you all need to write books about your life, and I wish I could like share with the world how fascinating all of these people are.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, that they just go through life really notchalantly, like, oh yeah, I did this and I did this, and like I'm this amazing.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, wow, I'm just hiding that.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Requirements to become a beef eater.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: I I did see an available position.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: I wanted it to my boss.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: I was like, would you refer me?
18:19
SPEAKER_02: I know I don't hit most of these qualifications, however.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, but not only are do they have this amazing military background, but they also have to be personable and tour guides at the same time and extremely knowledgeable about the history of the tower.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, definitely.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: It's an impressive role.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's one of the because they have to have done at least 22 years in the military and have got to um the the equivalent of a regimental sergeant major.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then not only that, they have to have a long service and good conduct medal from the monarch.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: And so so not only do they have to have a long and successful career, but they have to have been a good person that's good at their job as well.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, you really do get like the best of the best, really.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and they're so so clever.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people have misconceptions about um the reasons why people join the military and things like that, but they like the the amount of knowledge they have is just insane.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Like my dad will sit there, so most of my videos just come from random conversations I've had with my dad that he's just come out with it, and I'm like, what?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, I need I need to make a video on this because you've just we're cooking our dinner and you've just told me the entire history of like a specific tower in the tower, and I'm like, Oh my god, like how is that all in your brain?
19:48
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's it's insane.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, second book idea that you come out with, you can just do like a collection of memoirs from all the different folks that you that you've heard.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, definitely.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, perfect segue.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, speaking of uh memoirs, kind of tough segue.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: No, um do you first of all, do you believe in the ghosts?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: And if you do, have you seen any of the ghosts?
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Um I I definitely believe in them, and I think if you were going to believe in ghosts, then the tower would be the place that you would find them.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Like there is such um a tragic but also a happy history here.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: Like, as you know, like such in intense moments in history have happened here, and and most intense moments in humanity and culture, and there is just so much energy, like that's that's how I can describe it is it's just an energy.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people say to me, like, even just visiting when it's all like the tourists are around, it's so intense for them.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've never seen anybody, like I've never seen a kind of invisible, floaty thing.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I I then I don't necessarily believe that that is what a ghost is.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: There are people that that have, and there are people that have seen um like young children actually have um talked about seeing the two boy princes, that that they've only ever been spotted by children of beef eaters, really.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, as far as I'm aware.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and where where these children have named because they're Richard and Edward, um, have said, like, oh daddy, like, I'm I'm off to go and play with Richard and Edward.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Oh, that's creepy.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: I why don't they ask them what happened then?
21:36
SPEAKER_02: Can you be like true or false?
21:39
SPEAKER_02: Did your uncle do this?
21:41
SPEAKER_02: Were you murdered?
21:42
SPEAKER_02: Please, please endorse that for us, Megan.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: Like, if you get a hold of any of their playmates, please make sure they keep the question answered.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: Let them know they would solve a lot of questions.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of a lot of historians are are confused about that one still.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: That's yeah.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: See, I'm so curious about.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Seeing ghosts, but I'm also I also know I would be terrified.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Like I've heard a lot, like I've heard like footsteps going up my stairs, and like when my dog wasn't here, I had like one of her squeaky toys on my desk, and every now and again through the night it would just squeak once and then stop.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And um, my house is kind of like split into two, and my next door neighbours have said that he can sometimes feel something jump up and curl up on his bed.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: So we think we have like a ghost dog or a ghost cat or something, and I'm I'm totally fine with that.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna have a ghost, let it be a ghost dog.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, I'm I'm so intrigued, and I I tell myself I can't look up in the windows at night time, but I find myself doing like a little peek, going, Oh, if I just got like I saw it out of the corner of my eye, maybe it wouldn't scare me that much.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I still do walk the dog at night time, and I feel like every chimney stack along the casemates is some woman that's in in a long dress or something, and I yeah, I it's not what I was gonna say.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: Can you see the scaffold site from your apartment?
23:06
SPEAKER_02: The execution site?
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: No, no, I can't.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: So so I'm in the outer wall, so um I can I can see the inner wall, but and and the the onion um tower in the in the white tower, but um, yeah, so thankfully I can't see tower green from where I am.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: When beef eaters start their um their trial when they they first arrive, they were initially put into Seven Tower Green, which is supposedly the most haunted place in like in the UK, and the amount of experiences they had, so that is overlooking the green where where the um execution site was supposedly um held.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, so that people in that house have had their bed turned 90 degrees, or they've had they've woken up to somebody screaming in their ear.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Um and my dad, this one is really silly, and it's one of those things where it's like, come on, like these people have got ghosts screaming in their ear.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: But my dad actually had what he thinks was a ghost swapping his plugs.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: So, like the plug in his kitchen sink kept swapping over.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh dad, he's like ghosts of such a dad thing to get upset over.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: With the plug in the bathroom, they kept swapping over, and then one morning he actually found the plug for from his bathroom in his toaster in the kitchen, and he couldn't put the toast down.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: So, like I feel like he he got off lightly when people have had woke up ringing ears because somebody has screamed in their ear in the night, and my dad has just had a had a ghost taking the mick a little bit and putting a plug in his toaster.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: I think he's got off lightly.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: It's probably like an old court gesture, just like messing with him.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, I can go on honestly for hours with questions about the Tower of London.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: I still have some burning in my burning in my mind here, but I did want to transition a little bit because absolutely we need to talk about um your up-and-coming book.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, which so April 27th in the UK, May 2nd in the US, and it's falling hard for the Royal Guard.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us a little bit about it and just yeah, your experience of writing it?
25:21
SPEAKER_00: So um, Falling Hard for the Royal Guard is a royally British rom-com all about Maggie Moore, who is a beef eater's daughter and lives in the tower, and it's all about her as a 26-year-old woman having just come out of a bit of a toxic relationship, trying to figure out who she is and trying to figure out the cesspit that is online dating in the 21st century, not only while she's had to move back in with her dad, but also while she's living in a royal palace.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: So it kind of like she's she's not having a great time to put it lightly.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then um it's not until she she has a chance encounter with a mysterious but very, very handsome King's God soldier that her life uh takes a little bit of a twist, and it's all about her um not only her falling for this guard, and you have plenty of handsome King's Guards in their bearskins, and um yeah, showing you the behind the scenes of of what they are, and that they're not just bodies with that don't speak and don't move and just exist to stand outside of the crown jewels.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: They are they are people and it's it's what they get up to as well, as well as what happens behind the scenes in the tower.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's also what life is like to be a 20-something who knowing that living in the city and even just existing as a 20-something-year-old, discovering who you are and um finding friendships, and yeah, I I really just wanted to write a story that it's not based on my own life, um, but it obviously I I couldn't not use inspiration from my own life, like my own boyfriend is a King's God.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that helped a lot, like it's very um, very meticulously researched to put it lightly.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, no, and just the writing process was an absolute pleasure, as as it's something that I just know so well, it also helped me to to kind of gain another appreciation for where I am and and what I'm doing.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, also just to be able to to again bring the tower um to a whole new audience and and to bring something new to to the rom com genre.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: I think like all the stories you see in the Tower of London are like Anne Boleyn and people being like tortured or murdered or like not very nice things.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: So I thought if we have a story in the tower that's actually up to date and and what life is like nowadays beyond the the torture and everything, but there's plenty of ghosts and ravens and all of the all of the good stuff as well.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's great.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm already gonna petition for this book to become a movie because I feel like that would be like a cute rom-com.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: I realize I'm in my 30s, but maybe I could play the 20-something year old.
28:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you want to be more character.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't be mad.
28:18
SPEAKER_02: I like I already feel the similarities between us.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: We could just be extras.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: I think it's enough for us to be in the back.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: Didn't I say this also when we were chatting with James Peacock?
28:26
SPEAKER_02: I think about Tracy Borman's book being a movie, and I think I also pitched myself for that role.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Also, versatile.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Just keeps inserting herself in the main character roles, which I appreciate your confidence.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: I think you should keep that.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, and just a little bit too about uh, you know, your background.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: But have you always been a writer, or is this more of a recent thing that you've started because of living in the tower?
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I've always wanted to write, and um I I never believed that it was something that I personally could do as a career.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Like I grew up um as a working class person, um, and it was never something that was given to me as an option in the sense that this it was always pitched as a hobby that I thought I'm gonna be 70 by the time I get to sit down and write a book and even think about getting it published.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, so thanks to the power of social media, my um my wonderful editor actually contacted me and was like, We love your story on TikTok.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And I thought she was just gonna ask me to tell her about my life, and they would get like some other writer to write it.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, a real writer is what I said to myself in my head.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: And um, and she was like, No, no, like you send us a sample of your writing, and then if if we like it, then then you can write it.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was like, I've been, I've written many a fan fiction in preparation of this moment.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, so so yeah, I um I I wrote the the first couple of chapters, they loved it, they they let me write the rest of it.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, no, so it was uh it was kind of like a they contacted me, which is incredibly lucky, especially in such an industry.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: So kiss me, twills.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: Your one video of opening up the pre-release cover, that I got choked up watching, and I'm like, what an amazing moment in your life, and I didn't know that that they approached you, which is just even more of like something to be so proud of.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I feel I feel so privileged because I know so many, like I said before, like I it it was always something in my head that I've always wanted to do, and but just never thought that it was open to somebody like me that I could at 22 years old be a published author.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, so again, like I I'm just so grateful for the power of social media that that's actually given me this opportunity.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's that's the real brilliant thing about like things like TikTok giving kind of exposure to the the average person.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Like I know I live in a castle and and all of that kind of stuff, and I don't doubt how how privileged I am.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, but but yeah, just just giving regular people a platform, um, which then their stories can can kind of be be heard in the rest of the world.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, and I I'm I'm so grateful uh every single day.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
31:26
SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
31:27
SPEAKER_02: Well, I can't wait to read it.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: What would be the the most preferred way for people to pre-order the book?
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Um I would love people to support like independent bookshops.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Um so you're you're just your local independently run bookshop if you ring them up and because even if you ring them up and ask them, Well, do you stop this title?
31:49
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the times they can order it in and things like that.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, if you if you can't um um get it from your independent bookshop, then places like Waterstones or Barnes and Noble, I know that they're bigger, but um, yeah, look, or literally anywhere that is affordable to you, it's it's not um not yeah, I I I if anybody's reading it, I am happy.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter like how much you spent on it or or where you got it from, but um, yeah, as long as people are supporting independent bookshops where they can, because they are they are the people that are supporting and they're they've built up the the publishing industry and and the world of books.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they they need our support right now more than ever.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: So I would love absolutely.
32:35
SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting here like, oh my god, I bought it on Amazon.
32:39
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, but I will make up for it.
32:42
SPEAKER_02: I will make up for it.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: And everybody listening to this, that is a very easy thing that we can do is just call up our local bookstore and say, I want this book.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: Right.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: And they want our business.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: So that's how it works.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Libraries as well.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: Like libraries, uh, we we definitely can't underestimate how amazing they are as well.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: So calling up your local library asking if they've got it or or anything, that that's always a brilliant way to support authors and support libraries as well.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I I'm grateful whichever way that you you manage to read it.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we are excited for it.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, how long did it take to write from beginning to end?
33:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, I it took me like so so actually writing it was a lot faster than I thought.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: It took me about five months.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that was speedy.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, purely for the fact that like as soon as I got in writing it, it just wrote itself because it's so so close to to what I know, um, but like the fantasized version of what my life could be like.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Um it just wrote itself.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: The characters just became themselves in my head, and I lived to them for for five months.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the editing process, I 100% underestimated it.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: I had no idea what the the publishing process was like going into it.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: So like I I signed my deal like February 22, I think it was, and obviously it's coming out in in April this year.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's just like it there's like about four different rounds of editing and and all of that kind of stuff.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: So and there's a whole army that goes into kind of doing the cover and doing um all the promo and things like that.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's been it's been a very long process.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, short in in comparison to a lot of people's um process, but like again, that's just um from how lucky I've been with with being approached by my publisher.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so it it hasn't taken me long in the grand scheme of things, but it's felt like a long time.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: Just it's um it's very intense, it's a lot more intense than I I thought it would be.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And every single part of the process, you think, oh, that was the hardest bit, and then every single part is the hardest part, which um yeah, but it keeps our brains going, it keeps the fun going.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, when there are stakes, it's more exciting.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So absolutely love it.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh who who are some of your favorite authors or favorite genres, even um, I hate to be that person, but I am such a massive fan of um Emily Bronte and Jane Austen.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: I when I was 16 years old, it it I would cry at the thought that I don't live in an Austin novel.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: It would be my idea of hell wearing a corset and like just sitting around all day.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but also it just I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennett and that was what my life was like.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, so I absolutely love the classics, but but authors like Beth O'Leary and and those kind of authors, I love romantic fiction, and um yeah, I grew up.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: This is uh slightly embarrassing, but I grew up um a big fang, uh like fan fiction girly.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Um so a lot of my um so yeah, like and just reading books from from again from people that um would never have a voice normally and never be given that opportunity normally, and and reading stories from people all across the world of all different ages, and some are amazing, some are less amazing.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, so it's um yeah, I I I read quite a wide selection of stuff, but mostly romance.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm such a sucker for a romance.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm yeah.
36:22
SPEAKER_02: Well, you're not alone.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: I absolutely read and wrote Harry Potter fan fiction when I was younger, so but you're already way closer to to being like Elizabeth Bennett than we ever could be, because at least you have a amazing hair, b, you live in England, and you live in Newcastle, and here we are in the middle of the desert in Arizona.
36:44
SPEAKER_02: So I already appreciate you for how close you are to that.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: Our own version of an Austin novel out here.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: Dying in the middle of the desert.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love the way that the US, though, has like they do all the Ren fairs and things.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: Like we we have a couple of things like that, but they you guys totally go all out for those things.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to go to a Ren fair in America so badly because you all like everyone takes it so serious and everyone's so excited to be there.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And I went to a couple of things like that when I was growing up that because I I lived quite close to Sherwood Forest, where like obviously Robin Hood and everything set, so they used to have like a Robin Hood um kind of festival every year when we'd go camping in Sherwood Forest, um, and you'd see the jousting and you would wear like beautiful maiden fairy crowns and and stuff like that.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, the the American like wren fairs and then like they go mad for all the the Scottish um culture festivals as well.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think yeah, I I would love to come over.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: I know I I know I live in in England and everything, but but you guys do do the past a lot better than us, I think, on those things.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, well I appreciate you um thinking that we have maybe some I don't know if we call it culture, but um we kind of use other people's cultures and make it our own.
38:07
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: Relive it.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: Um okay, you gave a very funny story about a poor several poor reviews about the Tower of London.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: I have to know, how would you review your own home?
38:22
SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Um I I I did what one of the ones in that video was a tourist complaining that the tower was full of tourists.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: And um that that would be my one-star review for the tower.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: If if I could if I could do a one-star review for the tower, which I feel like they'd probably kick me out if I did.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it would be just purely for the fact there are too many tourists and I can't just walk around in a long gown and pretend I'm a queen all day.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you can't?
38:49
SPEAKER_02: Um I would wear my Renfare dress, I think.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: And just really throw people off.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: Then they'd go and there's a ghost.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've been escorted out of the Renfare before.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure we would probably get escorted out of the Tower of London if we were there together.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: Two for two.
39:07
SPEAKER_02: Two for two.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, and and just sometimes like people have said that to me before.
39:12
SPEAKER_00: They were like, oh, you need to dress up as Elizabeth I and pretend you're a ghost and scare a load of tourists.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've yet to do that, but I feel like before I move out of here, I have to do that at least once.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: So we would support at nighttime and do a video that's not released for a few weeks.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: So, like, let people wonder for a while.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, paint yourself super pasty white.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: Support this idea.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: I like that.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that is great.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, and do you have any tips for someone who is maybe visiting um the tower for the first time?
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I would a hundred percent definitely um wait around for the beefy tour.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, everybody that comes, and that would be my five-star review.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that would be the one that I'd go for, is is the beef eater tour is just like there is there is nothing else I've ever seen like it.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: Like they're they're real people that are so invested in the tower and its history, but they're also such engaging people as well.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, go going on the beef eater tour and they give you all all um the the key the key moments in the tower and then then release they release you into the tower and and let you um go around by yourself.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: And then I think you just get such a better experience, it's so much more immersive to have somebody whose job has been there since 1485 um to show you around that um yeah, it's it's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing that there's there's nobody else that that does it as well as they do, in my opinion.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: And I'm very biased, I know, but um, yeah, it's brilliant.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, just just take a long time because I think I've lived here for years now, and there are still things that I have not seen that I've not had chance to go and have a look at yet.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, definitely just don't leave yourself with like an hour or two.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Take your time and take in the tiniest little things.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: Like there is I I did a video uh quite a while ago now when I first started doing TikToks, um, and it blew up on TikTok, and it was literally just a mooring ring, so where they would tie boats to before they built the outer wall.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: So the the Thames used to come right up to the inner wall, and there is still a ring, just like rusty on the side of the wall, that has been there since before 1280.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: So, like just tiny things like that, and it's not even in an exhibit, it's just still attached to the wall.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: And um just everything, right?
41:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: People in London probably laugh when they come to America and we have things like in these glass boxes that are like this has been around since 1870.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh well, that ring you just passed is from 1200.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: Go and power.
42:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, I had a really embarrassing moment when I was at the pub next to Heaver Castle.
42:10
SPEAKER_02: I think I shared this before on the on the show, but it's worth mentioning again, where I was just taking in everything and there was this like log in like a glass thing.
42:21
SPEAKER_02: And I asked the server, I was like, what is the significance of this log?
42:26
SPEAKER_02: Does this have something to do with Heaver Castle and Anne Bullet?
42:30
SPEAKER_02: And she looked at me, she's like, that's literally a door prop.
42:32
SPEAKER_02: Like it's just open.
42:34
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, so sorry.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: And just everything is new to me.
42:38
SPEAKER_02: Got it.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
42:40
SPEAKER_02: And then I was I was very embarrassed.
42:42
SPEAKER_02: Um no, it's it's so interesting here at the hearing things from your perspective.
42:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, I do have one final burning question, which I'm sure you get asked this all the time.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: What is the beef eater bar like?
42:59
SPEAKER_00: It is an experience.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: Like it's something, it's so quintessentially British as well, which is why I love it so much.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just uh like pub culture embodied in everything, but also it's like there, it's constantly full of interesting people.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: Like I was saying before, like you you find yourself just stood in there chatting, you're not really necessarily doing anything, but you're chatting, and it's one of the best nights you've ever had because everybody is so welcoming, everybody's so fun.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: Like they beef eaters know how to party and they put us young people to shame.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: Are you hiring for a bartender?
43:40
SPEAKER_02: Like, can you get that job?
43:41
SPEAKER_02: Can I get that job?
43:42
SPEAKER_02: Can I apply to the bartender at the time?
43:45
SPEAKER_00: Um so it's actually like the the bar is run by beef eaters, so they take it in turns every two weeks.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: So for two weeks they will go and pull pints in the bar.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: So so unless you've got that twenty two years military service, I'm afraid not.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Just shy of that, Megan.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: You only have I'll lurk on that.
44:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, weird question, but are there like hours or do you have a curfew or anything like that?
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: So um obviously uh between half past nine and ten o'clock is the ceremony of the keys.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: So you are not allowed to move, either coming into the tower, coming out of the tower, you're not allowed to move in that time at all because that ceremony has been going on for 700 years and it's only ever been like interrupted and delayed when a bomb was dropped during the blitz, actually knocking over the chief yeoman warder and a few of the guards performing the ceremony, and they still could like fulfilled the ceremony um only seven minutes late.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: Um I did not know.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, they they take that very, very seriously.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: So there's absolutely no movement during between half past nine and ten o'clock, and then um um after that, so obviously that's the ceremonial locking up of the tower, you can still get in and out, so that's the main gates closed.
45:01
SPEAKER_00: Um still get out.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: Um they've they've got these little doors inside the big gates, and you can still get out and in of those uh until midnight, and then if you want to um you can't leave after midnight unless you've got special permission from the governor.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you want to come in after midnight, you have to um sign out.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: That there's always a man or woman.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh sorry.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: There is always a beef eater on watch in um in the Bywood Tower, which is it's the longest manned military post of its kind.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: Um so there's always somebody on there and they they do like the night shift.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: Um so you have to sign out with them and say, Hey, I'm I'm coming in after midnight, and they will wait up for you to come home and and make sure you're you're home.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: So wow.
45:45
unknown: Yeah.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: So it's really hard to get like a late, drunken, unexpected evening.
45:51
SPEAKER_02: Like a lot of pre-planning is involved.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: Right.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, yeah.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times it's like, oh no, I I've I've stayed out longer than I thought I was.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: I was just gonna have to quickly call the Tower of London to tell them to to wait for me.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: So we would not be on their good list.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: That'd be another reason we're kicked out pretty quickly there.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh um, well, that was so exciting.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: We've loved this entire interview.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: We've loved uh again hearing about your unique experiences.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: And obviously, again, we we've we've seen the videos, we've heard the some of the stories, but uh it's just it's so amazing to get the chance to again like speak to you about it personally and get that extra context and to know that this has only been you know a part of your life for the last what like five, six years, but it's become again so much for you.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: It's become this book, um, it's become all of the uh stuff on social media.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: It's it's such a wild ride in such a short amount of time, so it's amazing.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's it's crazy.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: But thank you again for having me on.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: It's great to like it, it never gets old talking about it, like especially well, it does, it does when I come out in the pub and go, Oh, look at me, I'm the girl who lives in the Tower of London, which is the reason why I don't.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: Um but um yeah, no, it's it's great to talk about it, and I'm such a nerd about it as well.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, I and this is this is the thing about like the whole social media side and stuff.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: It's like I am such a fangirl about my own home, and that's such a lovely way to live, I think.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I I will jump at any opportunity to tell you 20 random facts that I know about the tower.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, so no, I'm I'm so grateful that you've had me on and I yeah.
47:27
SPEAKER_02: I feel like we need to set up like a monthly one-on-one session.
47:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I have like 25,000 other questions for you.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I would love to chat more.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, but if you haven't already, please go and pre-order Falling Hard for the Royal Guard.
47:44
SPEAKER_02: Again, our dates are April 27th or May 2nd if you're in the States like us.
47:49
SPEAKER_02: Shop local, Amazon like me, but it's also available on Amazon Barnes and Noble.
47:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's we can't wait for it.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, and go and find Megan Clauset on TikTok, Instagram.
48:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh are there others?
48:02
SPEAKER_02: Are those are the two, right?
48:04
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty much it.
48:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's it.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: Find, follow, laugh along with us, like, comment.
48:12
SPEAKER_02: All those things, like us, comment on us, review us.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Now I sound needy.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: Didn't come off this whole time.
48:19
SPEAKER_02: Cool, cool, cool, cool.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, Megan, any final words?
48:24
SPEAKER_00: Not today.