If you are a subscriber to DailyStep, you can also download this audio file there.Why did Big Ben ‘bong’ on New Year’s Day? ** There is a FREE PDF file of this lesson at the bottom of this page. These days, though, it is getting harder to see them from a distance as many modern skyscrapers are built. It’s one of the most famous landmarks in the London skyline, along with St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. The four clock faces of Big Ben are illuminated when it gets dark, as you can see in the picture, and we can see them from miles around in London. The clock has hardly ever stopped – even during the Second World War, when London was bombed in the Blitz and part of the Houses of Parliament was destroyed, the clock continued to strike the time. Its chimes are used at the beginning of many TV and radio news programs, a tradition that dates back to 1923. His nickname was Big Ben.īig Ben is Britain’s most important clock. The second man was Benjamin Caunt, who was the heavyweight boxing champion of 1841. He commissioned the new Houses of Parliament to be built, and he was also a very large man. Why is it called Big Ben? No-one is quite sure, but it was named after one of two men who were both known as Big Ben at the time the clock was built. The other 4 bells are called ‘quarter bells’, because they chime every fifteen minutes, or every quarter of an hour. If it is five o’clock, the hammer strikes it five times.

Big Ben is the biggest bell, and every hour a hammer strikes the time on it. The clock first chimed its famous chimes on 31 st May, 1859.

You can see the clock in the top picture, and the bell in the bottom picture. We also say Big Ben when we refer to the whole clock tower as well. Big Ben is actually the name of the enormous bell inside the clock of the Houses of Parliament.

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