May 9

Even by the somewhat casual standards of the late 17th century, Thomas Blood was a brazen sort of guy. After having fought in the service of Oliver Cromwell, he had been awarded some very lucrative land grants in his native Ireland. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Blood was stripped of these land grants. A boy has to do something to earn his daily bread and Blood decided to kidnap and hold for ransom James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, a minor noble. Blood wasn’t particularly good at that however, so he and a couple of friends attempted to steal the British Crown Jewels on the 9th in 1671. Well actually, to be accurate, he and his associates did steal the British Crown Jewels. However, he and his confederates were captured before they could successfully make their way out of the Tower of London, where the jewels were being stored.
In the eighteenth century, the Tower also contained a menagerie, which was open to visitors. The price of admission was the sum of three halfpence or the supply of a cat or dog for feeding to the lions.