Big Ben "has been one of the most recognized
landmarks in Britain since it was completed in 1859," "Why mess with
tradition?" In an age when "names have become little more than
interchangeable brands," it's a shame to change a name that stretches back
that far. Besides, "what does a clock tower built in 1859 have to do with
a monarch whose reign began nearly 100 years later?"
Vancouver
Courier, June 27, 2012
Big Ben is one of the most famous names in the
world, up there with the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty. But now London's
Big Ben clock tower is to be renamed Elizabeth Tower to mark the queen's 60th
year on the British throne.
The announcement this week followed four days of
celebrations earlier this month to mark 86-year-old Queen's Elizabeth's Diamond
Jubilee. The jubilee celebrations underscored a surge in popularity for the
Queen in recent years, and included the biggest flotilla on the Thames for more
than three centuries, a star-studded concert and a horse-drawn procession
through the capital.
The landmark, part of Britain's Houses of
Parliament, is officially called the Clock Tower but is commonly known as Big
Ben, the name of the giant bell in the tower that chimes the famous bongs in
the capital.
Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the name
change. "The renaming of the Clock Tower to the Elizabeth Tower is a
fitting recognition of the Queen's 60 years of service. This is an exceptional
tribute to an exceptional monarch," he said.
The ornate 315-feet-high neo-Gothic tower features
four gilded clockfaces and was completed in 1859. There are 393 steps to the
top of the tower, sited on the bank of the River Thames in the heart of
London's Whitehall government district.
The name change was proposed by Conservative Party
lawmaker Tobias Ellwood and accepted by parliamentary authorities.
"The House of Commons (parliament) Commission
welcomed the proposal to rename the Clock Tower Elizabeth Tower in recognition
of Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and will arrange for this decision
to be implemented in an appropriate manner in due course," a House of
Commons spokesman said.
However, many Britons were opposed to the tower name
change. A YouGov poll last month found that 44 percent of Brits oppose the name change, while only 30 percent
support it. The British media has already dubbed the rechristened tower Large
Liz, while Twitter has been clogged with tweets bemoaning the change.
Still, there is not
the first incident when British politicians renaming towers after monarchs. In
1860, the west tower of Westminster was renamed the Victoria Tower after Queen
Victoria, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
Historical Facts
The construction of Big
Ben was
commissioned during the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in the wake of
an 1834 fire. Parliament determined that the new buildings should incorporate
an impressive clock tower and passed a bill to that end in 1844.
The clock tower was
constructed on the northern extremity of the new Houses of Parliament that were
built next to Westminster Hall. The commission for the clock itself demanded a
high level of accuracy; the specifications drafted by Astronomer Royal George
Airy required that "the first stroke of the hour bell should register the
time, correct to within one second per day, and furthermore that it should
telegraph its performance twice a day to Greenwich Observatory, where a record
would be kept."
Many clock makers were skeptical that such accuracy
could be achieved in a mechanical clock, but Edmund Beckett Denison, a lawyer
and amateur horologist, rose to the challenge. He completed a pendulum clock
design in 1851, and its assembly was begun by Edward John Dent, the owner of a
prominent clock making company, and finished by his son Frederick Dent. It
was completed in 1854, but construction on the tower lasted until 1859,
providing Frederick Dent five years to test and perfect the clock.
Denison also designed the hour bell. The prototype,
cast in August 1856 by John Warner and Sons, cracked beyond repair during
testing. Under owner George Mears, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (the oldest
foundry in Britain, which coincidentally had cast the original Liberty Bell
that cracked and had to be recast upon its arrival in the American colonies),
met with more success when it melted down and recast the hour bell. Completed
in April 1858, the second and final version of the hour bell was the largest
ever cast in the United Kingdom.
In fact, it was so colossal—over seven feet high and
weighing more than 13 tons—that a team of 16 horses was needed to pull the
wagon upon which it rested from the foundry to the Palace of Westminster. The
transportation took on the character of a parade, with enthusiastic crowds
lining the streets as the caravan made its way through London. It took several
days in October 1858 to hoist the bell to the top of the tower.
Following the installation of the hour bell and four
smaller quarter chime bells, Big Ben rang out for the first time on May 31,
1859. Due to the fitting of an oversized hammer stipulated by Denison, the hour
bell cracked the following September and did not come into regular service
until its repair in 1862. The distinctive imperfect tone of the bell is
the result of the crack, which was merely patched by a square piece of metal to
bolster the bell's strength. A lighter hammer was also installed to prevent
further damage.
Setting of the clock was initially coordinated with
the Greenwich Observatory via telegraph, and throughout its existence, Big Ben
has garnered a reputation for remaining extremely accurate—as a result, it was
not deemed necessary to replace the telegraph line after it was destroyed by
German bombs during World War II.
Living up to Airy's specifications, there have been
very few instances of the clock's accuracy straying more than one second. The
most notable example was in 1962, when a buildup of snow on the clock arms
caused Big Ben to ring in the New Year 10 minutes past midnight. Surprisingly,
the accuracy of the clock has been maintained by a relatively primitive method;
pennies are used to adjust and balance the swing of the clock's pendulum.
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