The booming resonance put the willies up half of Westminster. The mighty bell - the largest in England - was struck for the first time in public at the foot of the still-under-construction tower. The London Evening Standard of 22 October notes "All bells, we believe, are christened before they being to toll, and on the occasion it is proposed to call our king of bells "Big Ben," in honour of Sir Benjamin Hall, the President of the Board of Works." Rival theories that the bell was nicknamed after a popular boxer of the time are not mentioned in the press, but it's quite possible that the nickname played on this moniker as well as honouring Benjamin Hall.ġ856 (13 Nov): Big Ben, cast in Stockton-on-Tees, gets its first test. Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin's grand gothic plans win unanimous approval, although concerns are raised about the huge cost of the thing.ġ843 (28 Sep): Construction work begins on the Clock Tower.ġ852: The great clock at the heart of the tower is constructed by John Dent, to a design by Edmund Beckett Denison.ġ856 (Oct): The name "Big Ben" appears in print for the first time. Though utterly disastrous, the conflagration tees things up for the much more impressive Houses of Parliament we know today.ġ836 (29 Feb): After a fierce competition with 97 entrants, the winning scheme for the rebuilding works is announced on the leap day. Only Westminster Hall, the Jewel Tower and a few other fragments survive. * See our previous article for discussion about the various names and levels of pedantry.Īlso in this series: BT Tower, Buckingham Palace, London Zoo, Millennium Dome/O2, Westminster Abbeyġ834 (16 Oct): The old Houses of Parliament burn to the ground in a devastating fire. Here's our eminently readable, won't-find-it-all-on-Wikipedia chronology of the horological marvel. It's getting on for 200 years since the edifice was first conceived, and it's seen a fair bit of action in that time. call it what you will*, the multistorey timepiece of the Houses of Parliament is one of the world's great landmarks. Big Ben does not endanger humans because Heard Island is uninhabited.The Elizabeth Tower, Big Ben, St Stephen's Tower, the Westminster Clock Tower. A further eruption was reported on 2 February 2016, and was recorded by scientists who happened to be in the area on an expedition. Satellite images showed hotspots at various times from 2003 to 2008, and during September 2012. On 2 February 2016, observations from Atlas Cove, 15 km (9 mi) northwest of Mawson Peak, showed plumes up to 1 km (3,300 ft) high over the volcano. Satellite images detected eruptions during 2000. Volcanic activity at the cone has been known since 1881. A smaller volcanic headland, the Laurens Peninsula, extends about 10 km (6 mi) to the northwest, created by a separate volcano, Mount Dixon its highest point is Anzac Peak, at 715 m (2,346 ft).īig Ben has been known under a variety of names throughout its history, including Big Ben Peak, Old Ben Mountain, Emperor William Peak and Kaiser Wilhelm-Berg. Big Ben is the highest mountain in Australian Territory, except for those claimed in the Australian Antarctic Territory. Much of it is covered by ice, including 14 major glaciers which descend from Big Ben to the sea. Its highest point is Mawson Peak, which is 2,745 m (9,006 ft) above sea level. It is a stratovolcano with a diameter of about 25 km (16 mi). Big Ben is the large massif to the bottom right (southeast) of this image of Heard Island, from NASA World Windīig Ben is a volcanic massif that dominates the geography of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean.
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