Big Ben is one of the most famous landmarks in London. But when tourists say that they have visited Big Ben, they are not really telling the truth. The correct name for the tall, square tower at the end of the British Parliament building is The Great Westminster Clock Tower. Big Ben is the massive bell at the top of the tower that chimes the time.
In 1834, a fire destroyed the existing parliament building in London, and new Houses of Parliament had to be built. These incorporated a tall tower topped with the biggest clock in the world. The clock mechanism was a miracle of engineering. It was so exact that the hammer could strike the first blow of each hour correct to one second. When it was first installed, it took several men more than eight hours to wind up the clockworks.
Today the mechanism is wound automatically by an electric motor, but to keep it in good working order, the clock is also wound up by hand three times a week.
Big Ben is the colossal bronze bell that the clock hammer strikes to sound the time. It weighs 13 tons and is almost three metres in diameter. The first bell cracked during tests when the clock was being tried out in 1857. Disaster! The broken bell had to be melted down and recast. There were no problems with the second bell. The sound of Big Ben striking the hour finally rang out over London in July 1859.
In 1923, microphones were installed in the clock tower and the notes of the Big Bell became famous all over the world. Big Ben was a star, but in 1976, this almost came to an end.
At 3.45am on August 5th, the clock started to chime. But suddenly Big Ben was silent. The unthinkable had happened. The hammer shaft had shattered because of metal fatigue and the whole chiming mechanism was destroyed. Giving Big Ben its voice back took almost a year.