In 2012, the Tower of London welcomed two new inhabitants: a pair of ravens  named Jubilee and Grip. Their arrival celebrated the bicentenary  of Charles Dickens's birth. This Grip was the third of the Tower ravens to be named after the novelist's own pet birD. One of his predecessors  was resident during World War Two; he and his mate Mabel were the only ravens to survive a bombing attack on the Tower. Dickens's Grip, who had an impressive vocabulary, appears as a character in the author's fifth novel, Barnaby Rudge. On 28 January 1841, Dickens wrote to his friend George Cattermole: "my notion is to have [Barnaby] always in company with a pet raven, who is immeasurably more knowing than himself. To this end I have been studying my bird, and think I could make a very distinctive character of him." Unfortunately, just a few weeks after Dickens wrote that letter, Grip died, probably as a result of having stolen and eaten paint some months earlier. The bird had developed a strange habit - tearing sections off painted surfaces (including the family's carriage) and even drinking a quantity of white paint out of a tin. Dickens mourned his loss and wrote a humorous letter to his friend, the illustrator Daniel Maclise, about the raven's death. He related how, when Grip began to show signs of sickness, the vet was called and "administered a powerful dose of castor  oil". Initially this seemed to have a positive effect and the author was thrilled to see Grip restored to his usual personality when he bit the coachman (who was used to the raven and took it in good humor). The following morning, Grip was able to eat "some warm porridge", but his recovery was short liveD. As Dickens wrote to Maclise, "On the clock striking twelve he appeared slightly upset, but soon recovered, walking twice or thrice along the coach-house, stopped to bark, exclaimed 'Hello old girl' (his favorite expression) and dieD. He behaved throughout with a decent manner, which cannot be too much admireD. .. The children seem rather glad of it. He bit their ankles. But that was play." What caused the death of Dickens's Grip?
His old age. His strange diet. The killing of the coachman. His bad habit of biting people.