Crawford Butler

Military Service & Rank: 23 years in the army: Squadron Sergeant Major 10th Hussars, 11th Hussars, Royal Hussars

Yeoman at the Tower Since: 1989

Interests & Hobbies: Football, Stamps, Tropical fish, Blues music

Yeoman Warder Crawford Butler is a man of varied interests and hobbies, one of his favourite pastimes being that he is an ardent supporter of Liverpool football team. Any mention of the game of Soccer and he will look you straight in the eye and without hesitation say There is only one team and that's Liverpool. The debate on the subject usually ends there.

Crawford's other interests are far removed from football, for instance his stamp collection, as he explains. My stamp collection consists mainly of British stamps including every single stamp issued during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 2nd. I've got early Queen Victoria issues dating back to 1841 including Penny Black's and Penny Red's. I have also got a unique collection of stamps from a small group of Pacific Islands called Kiribati, pronounced Kiribash, formally known as the Gilbert and Ellis Islands. Since Zimbabwe gained their independence I have also started collecting from there and through my contacts and friends in the USA I have also acquired a large amount of American stamps.

Perhaps Crawford's greatest passion lies in his love for modern Blues music, prevalent in his extensive record collection, as he explained. My interest in the Blues really started the first time I heard Eric Clapton. I became a big fan of his and gradually began checking out other less commercially known musicians such as Robert Crane, Jimmy Vaughn and Stevie Ray Vaughn. One of my favourite Blues players is an American called Robin Ford and I have managed to get lots of records by him. I listen to most forms of music and my tastes are fairly wide covering all walks of life and spanning many different phases. From early Rock n Roll to The Beatles and Stones era, to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath's first wave of Heavy Metal periods, through Tamla Motown, Rhythm n Blues and Soul right up to today, if I like it, I'll listen to it. I must say though that Eric Clapton still remains at the top of my *all time greats* list.