London’s Big Ben ready to strike midnight on New Year’s Eve

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Preparations are under way for New Year's Eve celebrations, around the world. In London, clock makers have been fine tuning the bongs of Big Ben, so that it can strike midnight perfectly on time, and kick start the city's huge fireworks display.

Transcript

00:00When you think about the most photographed spots in the world, this would have to be one of them, London's Big Ben.

00:10Everyone snaps it from street level, but what's it like inside?

00:15We've been invited up for a look.

00:17My tour guide is clockmaker Andrew Strangeway.

00:20First stop, the clock mechanism, which has been here for 166 years.

00:25What's it like working here every day?

00:27It's fantastic. It's a brilliant job.

00:30It's a big responsibility working with this clock because everybody knows it.

00:35I mean, you see the tourists out there coming to see it and everybody notices if there's a problem with it.

00:40And so we have to keep it running absolutely tip-top and on time.

00:44This Wednesday, New Year's Eve, is probably the most important night of the year up here.

00:49Everyone is looking to this clock, to Big Ben, to strike midnight and let us know when New Year's has started.

00:56Because those fireworks are timed to go off with the strike of Big Ben, so we have to be on time.

01:05Oh wow.

01:06Right, so here we are in the east dial.

01:10So we're facing out east.

01:12The dial itself is just over seven metres in diameter.

01:15You could drive a double-decker bus through there.

01:18Please don't.

01:22But we're saving the best part of this iconic landmark till last.

01:26This is Big Ben.

01:27This is Big Ben.

01:28This is Big Ben.

01:29This is the bell.

01:30So this, strictly speaking, is what Big Ben refers to.

01:34Yeah.

01:35So we have one very large bell, thirteen and a half tonnes.

01:38And then around the outside, we have the four quarter bells.

01:42They range between five tonnes and one tonne, and they're what play the tune every quarter of an hour.

01:47These bells deliver the sound of London, don't they?

01:58Absolutely, yes.

01:59You know, you hear it in the radio, you hear it in films.

02:02One tone of Big Ben, you know that that is, that's Big Ben.

02:06It's the heart of London.

02:07What's it like up here on New Year's Eve?

02:09We do have a fantastic view of the fireworks when they go off.

02:12Once we've done our bit, once the clock has struck, we can watch those fireworks,

02:18and they are just the other side of the river, and so we do get a rather good view of those.

02:22Best view in the house?

02:23Best view in the house, yeah, absolutely.

02:25How loud does it get up here?

02:27So it reaches somewhere in the region of 110, 115 decibels when Big Ben strikes,

02:33so ear defenders are a must.

02:35So we're coming up towards the hour.

02:37Let's puff them on.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended