LondonSnooze: Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls...
 

It tolls for thee until this Saturday after which Big Ben, the big bell in the Parliament Tower (the tower itself many naive Americans often call mistakingly call Big Ben), will fall silent for several weeks while repairs are carried out.

Big Ben has been a steady Eddy, faithfully chiming and comforting Londoners for doing so even during the woes of WWII and fierce storms since it's installation in July 1859 - this will be but the 4th time since then that the bell will fall silent.

Big Ben will chime for the last time this Saturday at 8am before it takes a hiatus for 4-6 weeks.

So now in London the Sounds of Silence will mark the hour.

Surely the big debate is what happens at 6pm on radio 4 each evening. Normally the bell rings out the hours but they put something else on when its bust. Last time it was bird call. This time whales??

One of the best things we did in London was probably what we did on our arrival day--we got to drop our bags off, but we coudn't use the apartment until after 4:00 p.m., when the cleaners were finished. So, after we did all the Cabinet War Rooms we could take, given our sleep deprived state, we went to St. James Park, rented the loungers for a couple of hours, and just watch people go by while listening for the chimes.

Last time it was bird call. This time whales??

but the bell rung on the radio must be recorded right - or do they actually capture the real Big Ben ringing?

There is a microphone in the tower that sends the sound "Live".

It is not only "Naive Americans" that think the tower is called Big Ben - Most of Britain probably thinks the same. I believe it is officially "The Clock Tower" and sometimes also called St Steven's Tower (A favourite question in Pub Quizzes, but apparently also wrong).

Pal Q:

You can help decide what substitutes.

Click oin "Comment" at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2007/0..._silence.shtml

Apparently they'll take the best suggestion

PS. I don't know which is Big Ben: the tower, the clock, the bell or the old geezer who stands there all the time doing the Hunchback of Notre Dame act.

Oops, that last bit's a state secret we aren't supposed to tell foreigners. Don't tell anyone else, please.