Big Ben: Facts, history and how to visit

Tours for the famous clock tower may be suspended until 2020, but there's still plenty to learn
London icon: Big Ben
Matthew Cattell/Getty Images for Samsung Galaxy S8
David Ellis @dvh_ellis29 December 2017

London is a city of icons. Red buses, black taxis, phone boxes, Parliament, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We’ve a skyline of the Shard, St Paul’s, the Gherkin. There is, though, one icon above all others, our Eiffel Tower and Empire State: Big Ben, and the tower is rings in, has long been the pictorial symbol for the capital. Is it a must for tourists, but still beautiful to those who pass it daily.

The clock, of course, can be seen night and day. Presently though, tours of the building itself are suspended until 2020 as the tower undergoes £29 million worth of maintenance, which includes the installation of a lift. Follow this page for updates. The tours are full of fascinating insights – but in the meantime, here's a few facts to tide you over until they start up again - or while you're listening to them ring out on New Year's Eve.

The bell has more birthdays than the Queen

Big Ben has claim to three birthdays: the first, April 10 1858, when the bell itself was cast, the second, May 31 on 1859, when the clock first started ticking, and its third, July 11 1859, when it first chimed.

No-one is really sure how it got its name

The most likely explanation is that it’s named for Sir Benjamin Hall, the man who oversaw its installation and who’s name is carved into it. Still, some say it was titled in honour of the then British boxing champ, Benjamin Caunt. The bell was originally meant to be called the Royal Victoria, but Big Ben stuck. While every pub bore is quick to tell you that, don’t you know, the name is for the bell alone, the moniker has long been used colloquially to refer to the tower too, though this is officially called the Elizabeth Tower.

Clock watching - a fresh perspective on Big Ben

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Big Ben weighs about the same as three small elephants

Big Ben, which is 2.28 metres (7ft 6) tall and 2.75 (9ft) metres in diameter, and weighs almost 14 tonnes – about the same as three small African elephants.

It's has always been broken

The original great bell, a 16 tonne thing that was cheered by crowds on its way to the tower, was first cast August 6 1856 but cracked during early testing, and could not be repaired. A slightly smaller replacement, our Big Ben, was quickly cast. However, this too cracked under the strain of the clock’s oversized hammer and for three years was out of commission. The hammer was modified and the bell turned, so it was struck in a slightly different place. However, the crack was left, and it has never been repaired.

There are lyrics for the chimes

Next time you hear the clock’s main chime, on the hour, you can sing along, sort of. A slight derivation from Psalm 37:23–24 is inscribed in the clock room to run with the chimes: "All through this hour/Lord be my guide/And by Thy power/No foot shall slide".

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