БПОУ УР « Радиомеханический техникум им. В. А. Шутова » г. Ижевск Тема : The Big Ben: the person and the Tower clock Подготовил : Кравченко Александр Павлович специальность – Технология машиностроения Гр. 101 Курс – 1- й Руководитель : Преподаватель английского языка Кулахметова Наталья Николаевна

A plan: I. The Big Ben: what is it? II. The Big Ben as the famous Tower с lock: 1. interesting facts 2. data 3. history of construction III. The Big Ben as the person. IV. Conclusions V. Information sources

I. The Big Ben: what is it? Even little children know about the Big Ben. It is one of the symbols of Great Britain and one of the most beautiful sights of London. By the way, the Big Ben is the name of the largest of the five bells in the Palace of Westminster.

II. The Big Ben as the famous Tower Clock: This great clock of Westminster is the second largest one in the world. It looks especially impressive at night when the clock highlights.

It is interesting to know that … It is the most accurate tower clock in the world. The accuracy of the clock is controlled by the coins placed on the pendulum : old coin of 1 penny accelerates its motion by 0.4 seconds per day.

It is interesting to know that … The “voice” of the Big Ben is so powerful that When the country faces some important events, people can hear the ringing of the Big Ben in different parts of London. In addition, many people can watch the Big Ben on TV ( BBC1, for example) and hear the ringing of its bells on TV too.

Many special events and traditions are connected with the Big Ben. They are: On July 27 th, 2012 from 8:12 to 8:15 clock struck 30 times in honor of the opening of the Olympic games in London. (For the first time since 1952 chime were working out the schedule!) All the Londoners who live close to the Big Ben can hear a bell ringing 13 (!) times in the New Year’s Eve.

More interesting facts: The Big Ben can swing nowadays: There is tunnel for the London underground, so the tower deviates slightly to the North-West for a few mm. In the tower there is no Elevator, so you must overcome the 334 limestone stairs to go upstairs.

No doubt, you don’t know that… Despite the fact that the Big Ben is very popular tourist attraction, direct access is allowed only to citizens of the UK, and even only by special permission.

The Big Ben in numerals: The clock mechanism is located at a height of 55 meters. Its total weight of the clockwork is 5 tons. The dial diameter is 7 meters. The length of the arrows is 2.7 and 4.2 meters.

The history of construction: Do you know? Architect Charles Barry (a builder of the Palace of Westminster ) offered to build near the St. Stephen Tower a Tower Clock in 1840s.

The history of construction: The modern Tower was built by English architect Augustus Pugin in The Clockwork was designed by Sir Edmund Beckett and the astronomer Royal George. The Chime started to work on 31 st May The Chime rings every hour.

III. The Big Ben: as a person It is considered that the largest bell was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who directed the work on its casting and supervised the installation of the bells in the Clock Tower. Another legend says that it was named in honor of Benjamin Count, which was one of the famous boxers of the 19th century.

They both were tall big men, weighed more than 108 pounds, both of them people called as the Big Ben. So local people started to compare their appearance and strength with a heavy bell in the tower. An engineer and politician – Sir Benjamin Hall The Big Ben #1 and #2 A heavy-weight boxer – Benjamin Count

Why the Chime got such a name? (Another version) One day the Parliament had a special session to dedicate to the name of the bell. Lord Benjamin Hall, known as the Big Ben, made a long tedious speech, after which somebody asked: "And why not to call the bell as the “Big Ben?", and finally, to end it all!”

Conclusions: However, the Big Ben is the well-known sight, there are many unknown or curious facts about its designing, construction, installation or exploitation. Anyway most people in the world (especially students) call the Big Ben as the main London sight. Rare tourist can’t buy a T-shirt or a badge with such popular symbol. Also, many students choose the copy-book with the Big Ben for their English lessons! It is best- selling thing !

the source of information 1.Big Ben – Биг - Бен 2. Benjamin Hall - Холл,_ Бенджамин _( по литик ) Холл,_ Бенджамин _( по литик ) 3. Benjamin Caunt Facts about Big Ben - londone/ londone/ 5. big-ben