Big Ben

History

In England, the Palace of Westminster caught fire and there was no place of the royal family to live. It had to be rebuilt and along with it, came a new place called the clock tower, Now known as Big Ben of course and is likely named after Sir Benjamin Hall.

The astronomer Sir George Airy decided that the clock had to be accurate to the second, and this was in the 1800s, so it would take lots of effort supposing the limited technology of the 1800s.

The bell cracked on October 17th, 1857. It took 176 days to fix which is about half a year. It was a huge controversy and lots of people were panicking over it.

The clock tower had to shut down in World War One. This is because the light illuminated from the tower could have guided Germany's Zeppelins to London, which the British didn't want.

The clock has officially been renamed to Elizabeth tower to honour the queen of English, although everyone still calls it Big Ben.