Big Ben’s Past and Present

(1) At exactly 00:00:00 GMT on January 1, our planet started the year 2010 with the sound of Big Ben. Nine years ago the strikes of Big Ben symbolized the beginning of the third millennium on our planet.

It is one of the most famous symbols of Lon­don. Even those who had never been to London will easily recognize it because Big Ben has been featured on postcards, stamps and the covers of the English language textbooks around the world. It is really one of the most photographed places in London and may be in the whole world. London’s Big Ben celebrated its 150^th birthday on May 31^st, 2009.

Located at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in Lon­don, the St. Stephen’s Tower or the Clock Tower is known to the people of the world as Big Ben. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-­tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. Al­though most people refer to the whole tower as the Big Ben Clock Tower, the name Big Ben actually refers to the bell housed within the tower. The bell itself weighs almost 14 tons. The four clock faces of the Big Ben are each 23 feet in diameter; the biggest of its kind when it was constructed. On May 31, 1859 the clock officially started keeping time. Big Ben started tolling a few days later, but within months it cracked and didn’t resume service until 1862. The quarter bells started striking on 7 September, 1959.

(2) In 1834 a terrible fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster. There were 97 designs of the new Palace. The most successful of them was Sir Charles Barry’s, a famous architect. The new Parliament (the Palace of Westminster) was to be built in a Neo-Gothic style. Although Barry was the chief architect of the Palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the clock tower. The construction of the Clock Tower began in September 1843.

Big Ben stands 314-feet high. The bottom 61 metres (200 ft) of the Clock Tower’s structure consists of brickwork with sand-colored limestone cladding. The remainder of the tower’s height is a framed spire of cast iron. The tower is founded on a 15-metre (49 ft) square raft, made of thick con­crete. The four clock faces are 55 metres (180 ft) above ground. There is no elevator so the few that are granted admission must climb 334 limestone stairs. Over the years, Big Ben history included the changing of the tower itself. Due to ground conditions, the Big Ben Clock Tower now leans slightly to the Northwest, and also moves back and forth by a few millimeters each year.

Officially, the Clock Tower’s bell is called the Great Bell though it is better known by the name “Big Ben”. The fact that the bell should have ever received its title is very curious. The first bell was originally to be called “Victoria” or “Royal Victoria” in honour of Queen Victoria. But it was never officially named and its nickname Big Ben is the subject of some debate. The legend goes that it was nicknamed after the Commissioner of Public Works at the time, Benjamin Hall. Another theory for the origin of the name is that the bell may have been named after a contemporary heavyweight boxer Benjamin Caunt.

(3) Each face is 7 m in diameter and has 312 separate pieces of pot-opal glass panels framed by gun metal, rather like a stained-glass window. Some of the glass pieces may be removed for inspection, cleaning and maintenance of the clock hands. The surround of the dials is gilded. At the base of each clock face in gilt letters is the Latin inscription: DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRI­MAM which means O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First. To the left and to the right of the clock there is another Latin inscription: “Laus Deo” which means “Thanks God”. Illumination of each dial is performed in an old-fashioned manner by 28 energy-efficient bulbs at 85W each.

The bongs of Big Ben are heard every hour. Along with the Great Bell, the belfry houses four quarter bells which play the Westminster Quarters. The four quarter bells are G#, F#, E, and B and their chime rings out on the quarter hours. Their tune is based on Handel’s Messiah, a phrase from the aria I Know that My Redeemer Liveth. They were set to verse and the words are inscribed on a plaque in Big Ben’s clock room:

All through this hour

Lord be my Guide

That by Thy Power

No foot shall slide

The history of Big Ben recorded the clock’s remarkable reliability. The engineering of the clock provides protection of the mechanisms from climate changes and harsh weather. Though the clock has experienced slowing at various times through its history, the clock continued to run accurately even during The Blitz of World War II.

(4)The clock is accurate to within one second per day and Big Ben remains the largest and most accurate striking mechanical clock in the world. The idiom of putting a penny on, with the meaning of slowing down, sprang from the method of fine-tuning the clock’s pendulum.

Pre-decimal-currency pennies are still used by the Palace of Westminster’s three appointed clockmakers to regulate the clock mechanism. Adding one penny causes the clock to gain two-fifths of a second in 24 hours.

“It’s a typical piece of Victorian engineering,” said Mike McCann, the keeper of the great clock. “It will last for hundreds of years. Mainly we wind it three times a week. It is clockwork. A lot of people seem to think that it’s some sort of electronic clock but it’s entirely clockwork, driven by weights which need winding. So the main maintenance work really is winding it three times a week, oiling it and keeping it accurate.”

The clock undergoes maintenance work, including a thorough cleaning of the clock face, every five years, The restoration programme has been carried out before the clock’s 150^th anniversary in 2009. The hourly bongs and the quarter bells of the clock at Westminster Palace in central London were silent for seven weeks. The works included the replacement of bearings that sound the chimes.

Despite being one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions, the interior of the tower is not open to the general public due to security concerns, although from time to time press and other VIPs are granted access. Children under 11 are not allowed inside, nor are overseas visitors.

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Meeting a Stranger

I was coming home at about three o’clock on a black winter night, when suddenly I saw two people. The B10ONE was a short man who B11WALK along the street, and the B12TWO was a little girl who B13RUN as fast as she could. Well, the two crashed into each other and the child B14FALL down. But the man calmly walked on and left the B15CRY child on the ground. I ran after the man and brought B16HE back. There was already a small crowd around the child. The man was perfectly cool, but he gave me a very cruel look, which B17MAKE me feel sick. The child's family then arrived, and also the doctor. I had taken a violent dislike to the short man. So had the child’s family – that was only natural.

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The Biosphere

Life on Earth is limited to a very narrow zone called the biosphere. If the earth were reduced to the A15 of an apple, the biosphere would be no thicker than the apple’s A16 The biosphere extends A17 eight kilometers above and below the earth’s surface. But most organisms occupy a small portion of the biosphere. Here conditions for life are most favorable.

The part of the biosphere that an organism occupies is called its A18 or milieu. Each organism forms A19relationships within its surroundings. The study of the relationships A20 organisms and their milieu is called ecology.

Living organisms interacting with each other and their nonliving surroundings A21 an ecosystem.