Neither Clock Tower, nor Elizabeth Tower. For us it will always be the ‘Big Ben’. Being over a century and a half old, the tower remains shiny and proud for the thousands of tourists and Londoners that pass every day by it.
At the top it shows us the probably most famous clock in the world, and most photographed too, but in reality ‘Big Ben’ is a massive 14-ton bell that is within the tower. Through a mechanism called ‘metonymy’, the bell has happened to give name popularly to the entire Tower. And there we go with this video that shows near Big Ben, the most recognizable icon of London.
We enter a place which is only accessible by British citizens with special permission. They open us their doors, we climb the stairs of the tower and there, on top of the tower, on the clock, we find the Great Bell.
Now we are behind one of the sides of the luminous clock, of a great size, in which a person is barely enough to be the end of the minute hand. Come to know some of the curiosities of Big Ben:
– The one in the Tower is the world’s largest four face clocks.
– The tower was completed in 1858 and the clock became operational on September 7, 1859.
– The design of the Clock Tower was the last of architect August Pugin before falling into depression and madness.
– The tower has no elevator, so the privileged visitors must climb 334 stone steps to the top.
– The tower leans slightly toward the northwest. It also swings annually some millimeters east and west, due to thermal effects.
– Each side of the clock is formed by a seven meters spherical iron structure containing 312 translucent opaque glass pieces.
– The clock is famous for its high reliability and precision. Its designers were a lawyer and amateur horologist and the Astronomer Royal.
– The clock mechanism, located in an upper room, weighs five tons.
– At the top of the pendulum there is a lot of pennies, which are used to set the clock’s movement.
– In the First World War the bells were silenced and the clock stopped illuminating at night for two years to avoid attacks.
-During Second World War the bells continued operating, but the clock stopped illuminating at night.
– A famous delay happened on December 31, 1962: the new year came ten minutes late due to the large amount of snow accumulated between the hands.
– The clock has just suffered a major breakdown, in 1976: due to metal wear, the clock chiming mechanism broke.
– In 2005 the high temperatures made it not work properly and had to be checked, stopping for a few hours.
– It is believed that ‘Big Ben’ is named in honor of the first construction manager, Benjamin Hall, or maybe it was a term used to pay tribute to the boxer Ben Caunt, very popular in 1858, when the bell was cast.
– The original bell weighed 16 tons, but it broke and was replaced by the current one, of about 14 tons.
– On June 26, 2012 it was announced that the tower would be renamed as Elizabeth Tower in honor of Queen Elizabeth II.
We know some more about Big Ben, symbol of London and the country, the world’s most famous clock. Do not miss the video to get into the tower as we had never seen it before.
Photos: naniani99, Dave Pearce and George Plakides.
