Beefeater Bill Callaghan

Celebrity Speaker and Entertainment Bureau - NMP Live

Photo Credit: Neil Martin - NMP Live

Book Beefeater Bill Callaghan

Yeoman Warder (AKA Beefeater) at The Tower of London
Fee Group: Under £2,500

Photo Credit:
Neil Martin - NMP Live

Available For:

After Dinner Speaking
Auctioneering

About Audio/VideoTestimonials

Bill Callaghan is a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London - also known as a Beefeater - and a former Sergeant Major in the British Army with 23 years military service.

Bill is consummate raconteur and a highly sought-after speaker, and video footage filmed by a tourist during one of his tours at The Tower in December 2010 has racked up nearly 2 Million hits on YouTube!

Rejected by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force on academic grounds, Bill was readily accepted into the Army; an organisation that, in the late Seventies, viewed academic achievement with a deep suspicion. He enlisted into the Royal Army Medical Corps at the age of seventeen; excelled in basic military training and was graded 'above average' as a Nurse and Paramedic.

He was quickly identified as an instructor and trainer in all these fields and quickly rose through the ranks, at one point being the youngest Sergeant in his Corps. His service took him all over the UK (including Northern Ireland), most of Europe, the Balkans and Scandinavia, quite a bit of the Middle East, some of East Africa and some remote islands in the South Atlantic.

In addition to his medical duties Bill Callaghan has been trained and employed in Intelligence, Public Information and Psychological Operations. He has served with Guards, Infantry, Cavalry, Airborne, Commando and Special units. After an unpromising start academically, he obtained a BA hons in European History with diplomas in art and religious studies, from the OU, he also attended university courses for military studies in European, Middle Eastern and American Politics at Burwall's College Bristol and St Andrews University.

Bill retired as the Army Medical Services Recruit Company's Sergeant Major; a unique post, at Lichfield in 2002 after twenty-three years of service. He was sworn in as "a Member of the Sovereign's Bodyguard, a Yeoman Warder of HM Tower of London, of the Yeoman of the Guard in Extraordinary" - better known as a Beefeater - in August 2002. A post he proudly holds to this day.

Told in Bill Callaghan's inimitable style, his after dinner speech is a hilarious and unique take on history, based around his role as one of HM The Queen's Yeoman Warders, including fascinating insights about its famous, and infamous, inhabitants such as Henry VIII and William Wallace - as depicted in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart movie.

But be warned, nobody is safe from the former Sergeant Major's dry wit; Bill jovially lambasts everyone including the elderly, Scottish, Royal Marines and the French. So whether you’re a bit of a history buff, or can’t stand thinking about the past, Bill Callaghan will have you crying with laughter!

In his 'spare time', Bill volunteers as a Crewman on the RNLI's busiest lifeboat - Tower Lifeboat - on the River Thames in central London and has raised thousands of pounds for the charity through numerous fund raising activities.

Bill was married for twenty-one years and has two grown up children. He now describes himself as "a stand up historian, single and with a great sense of humour, living in a castle in Central London". To relax, in quiet moments he writes fairly awful poetry and pushes paint around canvas.

Tags for Beefeater Bill Callaghan
Humour / Comedy | Military | History |

Talent Profile

Beefeater Bill Callaghan

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