Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks mostspectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even knowwhen parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clockface.
The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with astack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellenttimekeeper, which has rarely stopped.
The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, butto the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the firstcommissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.
This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it wasgiven to the Dean of St. Paul's by William III. Before returning toWestminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned inWhitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31stDecember 1923 - there is a microphone in the turret connected toBroadcasting House.
During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed theCommons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock towerremained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away thehours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around theworld, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.
The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a"special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower.
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Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks mostspectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even knowwhen parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clockface.
The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with astack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellenttimekeeper, which has rarely stopped.
The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, butto the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the firstcommissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.
This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it wasgiven to the Dean of St. Paul's by William III. Before returning toWestminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned inWhitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31stDecember 1923 - there is a microphone in the turret connected toBroadcasting House.
During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed theCommons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock towerremained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away thehours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around theworld, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.
The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a"special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower.