Big Ben Clock

There are many iconic images of London; Buckingham Palace, red double decker busses and the Tower of London to name a few. The Big Ben Clock, housed in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster is another familiar image around the world. The seat of government in the Houses of Parliament at Westminster was designed in a Gothic style during the Victorian era. The Tower stands 316 feet high and tilts a little, because of the ground conditions.

The clock once held the record for being the biggest four faced clock in the world up until the appearance of the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The hour hand is 9 feet long and the minute hand is 14 feet long. The tower's construction was completed in 1858 and the clock was set in an iron frame. It is the Great Bell that is actually called Big Ben but the Big Ben Clock is a nickname that stuck. In addition to the main bell, there are four quarter bells in the belfry and they have chimed across the city since 1859.

The current Great Bell was placed in the Tower in 1908, the previous bell having suffered damage and it rings out in the key of E. Each of the clock faces bears a Latin inscription and on translation, it reads O Lord, Keep Safe Our Queen Victoria the First. The clock is much admired for its reliability, even managing to keep perfect time during the Blitz of World War II as bombs were falling all around. The western clockface was actually damaged in a German bombing raid. Many turret clocks in the world have been inspired by the Big Ben Clock design.

The chimes have been a part of British life since the BBC first broadcast them in 1923, made possible by a microphone in the turret that connects to the broadcasting studios. They mark out the daily 6pm news bulletins on the radio and chime in each New Year after the countdown. They also have a more solemn duty in chiming at 11am on each Remembrance Day, when the nation remembers the dead from two world wars and other conflicts. Instantly recognizable throughout the world, the Big Ben Clock image has been used to represent the UK in a number of movies, including Independence Day, Mars Attacks! and The War of the Worlds. All those aliens and it still stands proud!