Big Ben | Celebrating the world-famous clock tower

London Plus | Big Ben's Chimes

Frosty weather has a chilling effect on the bell chimes.

CHANNEL | BBC 1

FIRST BROADCAST | 05 December 1986

DURATION | 2 minutes 21 seconds

FIRSTBROADCAST

1986

Synopsis

Engineers rush to fix Big Ben's chimes when one of the bells in the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster stops working due to the severely cold weather. Top facts about the famous bell are given alongside terrible puns about clocks, bells and time-keeping.

Did you know?

Cold weather has affected the clock mechanism of Big Ben before. In 1962, a heavy fall of snow that settled on the hands of the clock made the chimes at midnight 10 minutes late.

Contributors

Mark Easton
Reporter
Ron Haynes
Contributor

Associated subjects

Architecture | Engineering | London | UK Politics | Weather

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Galleries

Close up of the inside of the Westminster clock face.

Big Ben

Photographs of Big Ben dating back to the 1920s.

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