BIG BEN
SOME HISTORICAL DETAILS “I knew that the great clock had been built over eighty years ago ... I learnt that prior to 1913, .Big Ben used to be wound by hand three times a week and it used to take five hours for two men to complete the job. But in 1913 the firm designed and installed an electric motor, and now the great clock is wound in fouty minutes. Big Ben, which was named after Sir Benjamin Flail who was Commissioner of Works when it was built, is neither the clock, nor the tower, as most people suppose. Big Ben is actually the famous clock’s bell, which weighs over thirteen tons and which was first carried 'to Westminster on a wagon drawn by sixteen horses. Whoever winds the big clock’s mechanism has to climb those 292 steps to the watch room three times weekly.” —Alastair Loch speaking in the 8.8. C. overseas service.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19430824.2.54
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1943, Page 4
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155BIG BEN Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1943, Page 4
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