2. The Tower of London was used as a prison for over 800 years
Built as a defensive fortification by William the Conqueror, the White Tower, for which the castle known as the Tower of London was named, held some notable prisoners from British history. Queen Elizabeth I spent time imprisoned in the Tower, and she sent some notable figures there later herself, including Sir Walter Raleigh. Although popular belief is that the Tower was the site of multiple executions, most executions took place atop Tower Hill to the north, with only seven occurring in the Tower itself prior to the First World War. Twelve convicted of espionage or treason were executed in the Tower during World Wars I and II. Rudolf Hess was held briefly in the Tower in 1941.
The first prisoner to be held in the Tower was the first person to successfully escape his incarceration there. Ranulf Flambard was imprisoned for embezzlement on the order of King Henry I in August 1100. Legend has it that he plied his guards and the custodian of the Tower with wine, and once they were drunk lowered himself out of a window using a rope, and escaped to Normandy via a ship which he had prearranged with friends. There are several variations of the tale of his escape, but it is most likely he simply bribed the custodian, William de Mandeville. Ranulf was the first, but far from the last inmate to escape from the tower over the centuries, most of whom did so through bribery of their guards.