Independent, UK: Big Ben, that paragon of tireless 24/7 working, tried to take a little break this Bank Holiday weekend. At 10.07pm on Friday evening, as the country started a three-day rest, the minute hand came to a halt. After a few immobile moments, it made a perfunctory effort for a while, then ceased altogether at 10.20pm.
Guardian Unlimited, UK: Big Ben, the landmark London clock renowned for its accuracy and chimes, stopped ticking for 90 minutes. (Same in CTV, Canada)
Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa: Big Ben, the world-famous clock tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, stopped late on Friday night.

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Unfortunately, Big Ben is not the clock. Big Ben is not the tower. As I understand it, 'Big Ben' means the bell. Am I mistaken?

<Wondering-whether-the-brit-know-their-own-icon emoticon>

This apart from numerous UK articles that refer to "the chimes of Big Ben", as if 'Big Ben' meant something of which the chimes (bells?) were a part. (Channel 4 News; icWales; The Scotsman; DeHavilland)

quote:

Unfortunately, Big Ben is not the clock. Big Ben is not the tower. As I understand it, 'Big Ben' means the bell. Am I mistaken?

<Wondering-whether-the-brit-know-their-own-icon emoticon>

This apart from numerous UK articles that refer to "the chimes of Big Ben", as if 'Big Ben' meant something of which the chimes (bells?) were a part. (Channel 4 News; icWales; The Scotsman; DeHavilland)

Big Ben is, indeed, the bell. It's the one that makes that deep, sonorous "BONG" on the hour. It has a fascinating history.

It's astonishing that, even over here in the UK, there are many people who either do not realise, or do not care, that Big Ben is the large bell and refer to the clock, the tower or the chimes (or all three) as "Big Ben".

The correct name for the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster is "St. Stephen's Tower". The correct name for the clock is "The Great Clock". The chimes are The Westminster Chimes and the bell that sounds the hours is Big Ben.

Incidentally, unlike most "normal" clocks, the time is indicated not when the chimes start, not when the hours strokes finish, but at the precise moment when Big Ben strikes the first stroke of the hour.

This is a very interesting article and this tells you all you want to know about it (and a lot more besides).

The BBC has an article about the stoppage here. Note that it refers to the 'chimes of Big Ben' being silenced, and that the clock is situated in St Stephen's Tower.

quote:

The BBC ... article ... refers to the 'chimes of Big Ben' being silenced ...

In other words, it errs? In that it refers to the 'chimes of the bell' rather than the 'chimes of the Great Clock'?

quote:

In other words, it errs?

I suppose so, in a way. I would hardly call the BONNGGG sound made by Big Ben a 'chime'. I'd reserve that description for the carillion of smaller bells that plays just before Big Ben strikes.

THE BELLS


by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)

I

Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III

Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV

Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

-- THE END --

Ohhhhh, that made me a bit dingy!

A small rowboat... dinghy? Yes.. me, too.

Hail, hail! The clang's all here?