Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1554 – 29 October 1618) was an English gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer, well known for popularising tobacco in England. Art, entertainment, and media Films Vincent Price portrayed Raleigh in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). The cast also included Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. Leslie Bradley portrayed Raleigh in the comedy Time Flies (1944). Richard Todd portrayed Raleigh in the film, The Virgin Queen (1955). Edward Everett Horton portrayed Sir Walter Raleigh in the film The Story of Mankind (1957). The Historie of the World, of which only the first volume was completed before Raleigh's execution, is the source of the title of the Mel Brooks comedy film History of the World, Part I (1981). He is portrayed by Clive Owen in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton, portrayed by Abbie Cornish, was also a featured character in this sequel to Elizabeth (1998), which focuses on the relationships of Elizabeth I (portrayed by Cate Blanchett) and Bess with Raleigh, and shows Bess and Raleigh marrying prior to the Spanish Armada (1588), though in fact the couple married in 1591. Games Raleigh is a playable character in the video game Jamestown. Raleigh is the default character of England in the Microprose game Sid Meier's Colonization. Literature According to 1066 and All That, James I, with his "logical and tidy mind" had Raleigh executed "for being left over from the previous reign." He is one of the principal characters in Winston Graham's historical novel The Grove of Eagles (1963). He is a character in Gloriana's Torch (2003), Patricia Finney's third novel in the Elizabethan spy thriller David Becket and Simon Ames Series. He is the main character in Robert Nye's historical novel The Voyage of the Destiny (1982) In The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History by V. S. Naipaul Bob Newhart's monologue "Introducing Tobacco to Civilisation" takes the form of a telephone conversation between "Nutty Walt" Raleigh and a sceptical business associate. Music John Lennon of The Beatles describes Raleigh as "a stupid git" due to his popularization of smoking in the song "I'm So Tired" on The White Album (1968). Raleigh is mentioned in the second "commercial" on P. D. Q. Bach's Report from Hoople: P. D. Q. Bach on the Air (1967), and credited with providing the composer with a recipe for a special blend of