BY: Michaella Martin

 Big Ben was made by Whitechapel Bell Foundry after the original which was made by bell makers John Warner & Sons

 The clock-tower was built in  It was completed on April 10, 1858 and is actually still working properly. Amazingly in 1856 the large bell was cast, but it was broken before it could be installed.  The replacement bell was cast in 1858, but the hammer inside the bell cracked it in 1859!

 It has a total of 4 nicknames  More popular one is actually “Big Ben”  Its true name is “The Great Bell”  Its nickname of “Big Ben” that everybody knows came from Sir Benjamin Hall the designer.

 1916: for two years during WWI, the bells were silenced and the clock face darkened at night to prevent attack by German Zeppelins.

 1 Sept. 1939: although the bells continued to ring, the clock faces were darkened at night through World War II to prevent guiding Blitz pilots.

 New Year's Eve 1962: The clock slowed due to heavy snow and ice on the long hands, causing the pendulum to detach from the clockwork, as it is designed to do in such circumstances, to avoid serious damage elsewhere in the mechanism—the pendulum continuing to swing freely. Thus it chimed in the new year 10 minutes late.  August : First and only major breakdown. The air brake speed regulator of the chiming mechanism broke after more than 100 years of torional fatigue causing the fully wound 4 ton weight to spin the winding drum out of the movement, causing a large amount of damage. The Great Clock was shut down for a total of 26 days over nine months  May : the clock stopped at 10:07 pm local time, possibly due to hot weather; temperatures in London had reached an unseasonable 90 °F. It restarted, but stopped again at 10:20 pm local time and remained still for about 90 minutes before restarting.

 October ,the mechanism was stopped for about 33 hours so the clock and its chimes could be worked on. It was the lengthiest maintenance shutdown in 22 years.  7:00 am June5,2006,The clock tower's "Quarter Bells" were taken out of commission for four weeks as a bearing holding one of the quarter bells was damaged from years of wear and needed to be removed for repairs. During this period, BBC Radio 4 broadcast recordings of British bird song followed by the pips in place of the usual chimes  August 11,2007, Start of 6-week stoppage for maintenance. Bearings in the clock's going train and the "great bell" striker were replaced, for the first time since installation.

 The bell weights 13.5 tons!!!!

 316 feet high or 96.3 meters

A picture of Big Ben taken from the London Eye.

This picture is of the Tower Bridge in London. That is Jennifer's niece and nephews....Emily, Matthew and Andrew.

This is a picture taken of the London Eye.