OVERHAUL OF BIG BEN

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27992, 12 June 1956, Page 10

OVERHAUL OF BIG BEN

Great Tom To “Stand In” For 8.8. C.

“SIGNATURE TUNE OF COMMONWEALTH”

„. . . , LONDON, the best-known voice in broadcasting will soon fall silent for a period of from two to three months, while Big Ben, whose reverbrating boom has been described as “the signature tune of the Commonwealth,” undergoes his first big overhaul since 1934; or. rather, while the clock which has come to be known by the name which rightly belongs to the great hour bell alone, has its entire works taken out and its four dials reglazed. During these months Big Ben’s world-wide audience will hear the voice of another famous London bell—Great Tom of St. Paul's Cathedral, which incidentally “stood in” for Big Ben in 1934.

Since the voice of Big Ben was first broadcast by the 8.8. C. on December 31, 1923, it has come for millions of people to stand for something constant, serene and reassuring in a troubled and scurrying world. It is strange, therefore, to find that it was once described as “the hoarse, gong-like roar °L a brazen fiend.” This was shortlv after the Great Clock of the Palace of Westminster—to use its real name—ca™ ln . to service on May 31. 1859. The clock had been ready since 1834. put could not be put into use until thn tower of the new Houses of Parliament was completed. The first bell cast had been too heavy and had cracked while hanging in Palace Yard, and a few months after the present bell had been hoisted to the tower, it, too, developed a crack. A lighter striking hammer was used and the bell was turned slightly I so that a different nart nf it was «trnn

Mt 1 d ainerent part of it was struc. but the crack remains to this day. Re-casting the bell is no part of th' Present overhaul and listeners wil hnd Big Ben’s voice unchanged whe it goes on the air again. Many persons may know the stor’ of how Big Ben came by his name. Si Benjamin Hall. CHief Lord of thf Woods and Forests (whbse modern ?i? un i^ er^ be the Minister of Works) a man of massive physique and a massive capacity for making lbn a speeches, was pleading for the name St. Stephen, when an exhausted member of Parliament shouted “Why Ben, and have done with it? The nickname stuck. Great Tom is a particularly appropriate suostitute for Big Ben, for it is the descendant of a bell which rang put rorn the site of Big Ben nearlj’ 600 years ago. Great Tom of Westminster, as the bell was first called was recast several times before it was sold to the Commissioner of London *°r Sir Christopher Wren’s great new cathedral. The present bell, which bears the inscription “Richard Phelps made me 1716,” was recast from the metal of that Great Tom. Besides being the hour bell, Great Tom has tho special duty of tolling the death of thp Sovereign, the Archbishop of Canterthe Blsh °P London, the Dean of St. Paul’s or of a Lord Mayor of London.