Hello!

He’s big, and he’s always up, he’s my favourite Bell, the Big Ben!

I first saw it years ago, on a school trip to London and to be honest I didn’t remember much about it. So I decided to visit it again lately on a London walk, and I find out all sorts of curious facts and stories about it!

Did you know that London’s most famous landmark looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated?

And did you know that the parliament is in session when a light shines above the clock face?

The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall, with it’s official name being called “the great Bell”.

The Bell was cast on the 10th of April 1858, with the first chime rung in Situ on 31st may 1859.

The base of each of the clock’s faces bears a Latin inscription “Lord save our Queen Victoria I” as the Big Ben clock tower and the adjoining Westminster palace were constructed during the Victorian age. Today the building next to the tower which is, “The Palace of Westminster” houses the British Parliament sessions and tourists can even view a session of parliament for free.

During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours in London, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world.

The tower is not open to the general public but only, if you are a UK resident and with a special interest in clocks you may then arrange a visit to the top of the clock tower through their local MP.

There is a miniature reproduction in Seychelles, in the centre of Victoria, the capital, in the island of Mahe. It is called the tower of the clock.

The Big Ben has famously been in the movie “39 steps ” the 1978 remake of the Alfred Hitchcock 1935 classic version, where Robert Powell hangs off the Big Ben’s clock face.

Here are some more interesting facts:

Did you know that Big Ben slowed down by 5 minutes in 1945 when a flock of starlings landed on the minute hand! The tower is 96 m tall ans has 334 steps to the bell and 393 steps to the lantern room.

The Clock has 4 faces and each face has a 7m diameter, the glass in clock faces has 312 separate pieces in each, the minute hand are 4.2m long, 100 kilograms in weight, made of copper – travel a distance equal to 190 kilometres a year. The hour hands are 2.74m long, 300 kg in weight and made of gun metal.

Next time you visit my City be sure to remember to visit the Big Ben’s Tower! And to listen to it’s Bell, The Big Ben as well!!

Kinky Kisses!!