Big Ben is a really popular British monument.
Big Ben is consideren to be London’s landmark. Let’s find out more about it!
- Tourists and locals alike often say “Big Ben” when referring to the landmark tower at the Houses of Parliament, but thet’s true.
- It was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
- It is the bell within that is named Big Ben.
- t is believed Big Ben was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, First Commissioner for Works.
- His name is inscribed on the bell.
- Others attest that the bell was named after Ben Caunt, a champion heavyweight boxer.
- The bell was originally meant to be called Royal Victoria.
- When Big Ben arived in London it was honored with a great ceremony.
- It was brought down the Thames by barge and then taken across Westminster Bridge by a carriage drawn by 16 white horses.
- That bell cracked during testing in October 1857.
- It was then replaced.
- Big Ben chimed for the first time on July 11, 1859.
- It would not ring for long.
- That September, a crack caused it to fall silent for 4 years.
- The BBC first broadcast Big Ben’s chimes to the country during a New Year’s Eve radio broadcast in 1923.
- The bell’s strikes were broadcast internationally for the first time in 1932.
- In 1940 the Silent Minute was introduced.
- People were slent for 60 seconds, while Big Ben was ringing.
- This was in honor of the peoplewho were in the battlefield.
- In 2017, extensive repair, conservation and refurbishment works begun and over certain months the clock mechanism has to be stopped.
- Exceptions being made for important events such as London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations and Remembrance Day.
- This didn’t happen for… the Brexit day.
- The Elizabeth Tower stands 315ft (96 metres) tall.
- It has 11 floors.
- Its foundation stone was laid on September 28, 1843.
- Its foundations were dug 10ft (3 metres) deep.
- Its construction required 850 cubic metres of stone and 2,600 cubic metres of brick.
- Its construction fell five years behind schedule.
- It wasn’t completed until 1859.
- Big Ben weighs 13.7 tonnes.
- The hammer weighs 200kg.
- The musical note it makes when struck is E.
- There are four smaller bells beneath Big Ben.
- They ring on the ‘quarter’ hours.
- They strike the notes G sharp, F sharp, E and B.
- The renovation work will provide the tower with its first toilet.
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