Big Ben - London, England - KeeKee's Fun Facts

Hello fellow adventurers! Welcome to another edition of Kiki's Fun Facts. In this episode, we're going to learn about Big Ben in London, England. Big Ben is a tall, famous clock tower. It's the most popular tourist attraction in England and is one of the most well-known symbols of the City of London. The tower is a part of the Palace of Westminster or the Houses of Parliament. These are the government buildings for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. When it was first built in 1859, it was considered one of the most accurate clocks on earth. Wow! Here's a fun fact. I keep saying Big Ben, but the official name of the clock tower is the Elizabeth Tower. The clock used to be called Clock Tower, but was officially renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. Big Ben is actually the nickname for the Great Bell, the largest of the five bells within the tower. The Big Ben bell weighs, get this, 13.5 tons. That's as heavy as a school bus. Big Ben is one of the largest clocks in the world. The tower is 315 feet tall, 96 meters. That's taller than the Statue of Liberty. The clock tower features four clocks, one on each side of the tower. The clock faces are actually made with window panes. 1,296 pieces of glass. They are cleaned with soap and water every five years. The hour hands, or the little hands, are nine feet long. The minute hands are 14 feet long and as tall as a double-decker bus. The clock inside Big Ben does not use a battery or electricity for power. Nope. It uses weights and gravity, and three times a week they manually wind the clock. The bells in the tower ring every 15 minutes with four different sounding chimes. The music it plays is called the Westminster Quarters. Big Ben was built in 1859 before most people even had watches. Having the clock tower chime lets you know what time it was, even if you couldn't see the clock. I hope you found these facts fun, and the next time you see Big Ben on TV, in a cartoon, or movie, or even in person, you know more about it. See you soon in another edition of Kiki's Fun Facts. Cheerio! Here are the chimes you hear when Big Ben rings through an hour. You will notice that each one is slightly different, so you can tell what time it is just by hearing the chime. Here's the chime at 15 minutes past the hour, or 2.15. Here's the chime at 30 minutes past the hour, at 2.30. Here's the chime at 45 minutes past the hour, at 2.45. And lastly, but not least, this is the sound at the top of the hour, as they say. This is three o'clock. It has a long chime and then goes bong three times. See you soon in another edition of Kiki's Fun Facts. Cheers!