Big Ben Falls Silent for a Month
Pakistan Times Wire Service

LONDON: The hourly chimes of Big Ben, the British capital’s world famous landmark atop Houses of Parliament, have fallen silent because of maintenance work.

Popularly called “the bongs” they stopped climes at the midnight and will remain silent for a month. Maintenance work means the hourly chimes and quarter bells will cease to ring until September.

The work will include the replacement of the bearings on the strike train which operates the hour bell (Big Ben) and the going train which controls the clock itself.

Big Ben is the nickname for what is officially called The Great Clock, but strictly speaking Big Ben refers only to the 13.5-tonne bell that chimes the hours.

The latest maintenance work is the second and final phase of a programme of planned works prior to the Great Clock’s 150th anniversary in 2009.

It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who was Commissioner of Works when the bell was installed in 1859.

Over the years, the clock has been stopped accidentally on a number of occasions - by weather, workmen, breakages and birds.

Media report says the maintenance work is expected to take four to six weeks.●