It was cast in 1856 and is one of Britain’s largest bells, at 9 feet (3m) in diameter. The largest bell, which chimes on the hour-and which, by the way, is not visible from the outside-is the Great Bell of Westminster, or Big Ben for short.
It has four faces, one very large bell, and four smaller bells. The tower, in turn, houses the clock-officially known as the Great Clock of Westminster. The tower that houses the clock was previously known as the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, but was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. The building is the Palace of Westminster, commonly known as the Houses of Parliament. The part and the whole: For starters, contrary to common usage, Big Ben is actually the nickname of a single bell-not of the clock itself, the tower in which it is installed, or the building of which the tower is a part.If my British readers, for whom all of this is probably old news, will forgive me, I’d like to present a sampling of interesting things about the world’s most famous clock tower: Although individually these facts are not extraordinarily impressive, I think that collectively they are rather interesting.
It was not until well after I returned that I discovered a whole list of facts about Big Ben I hadn’t previously known. But other than having heard about it in children’s songs and stories since I was young, I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to be so excited about. (And it’s a rather prominent feature of the skyline, too, so it would be difficult to avoid seeing even if you wanted to.) So we saw Big Ben. You can’t go to London without seeing (and hearing) Big Ben. But I quickly realized that there was a disconnection between the kinds of things I find interesting and the kinds of things most tourists find interesting.
Years ago on my first visit to London, I took in many of the standard tourist attractions-dutifully snapping photos, reading the histories in the guide books, and so on. And now for something slightly different.
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