Big Ben: The Bell, the Clock and the Tower

By: Peter MacDonald

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Synopsis: Big Ben is perhaps the most famous clock in the world. Here is its story, from its conception in the 1830s, after the fire destroyed the Palace of Westminster, to its establishment as the national timepiece and the symbol of Britain up to the present day. Big Ben is a character, an icon known to millions through the film The Thirty-Nine Steps - in which one of the protagonists clings to the hands as he swings above London - but above all it is a masterpiece of horological engineering intended to set the time for Parliament. Designed and built by the most forward-thinking of clockmakers, it represents the pinnacle of turret clockbuilding.While the music of the bells is mellow and harmonious, the clock's history was not. It took twenty-five years of bitter rivalry, backbiting and legal proceedings before it was finished. The engaging book tells in anecdotal style the story of the clock, reveals how the bell was cast, how it was named, how the music was composed and how the clock is maintained.