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Britain's Big Ben Marks 100 Years of New Year 'Bongs'

The Elizabeth Tower, which houses the Great Clock and the Big Ben bell, is seen above the Houses of Parliament, in central London, Britain. (Reuters)
The Elizabeth Tower, which houses the Great Clock and the Big Ben bell, is seen above the Houses of Parliament, in central London, Britain. (Reuters)
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Britain's Big Ben Marks 100 Years of New Year 'Bongs'

The Elizabeth Tower, which houses the Great Clock and the Big Ben bell, is seen above the Houses of Parliament, in central London, Britain. (Reuters)
The Elizabeth Tower, which houses the Great Clock and the Big Ben bell, is seen above the Houses of Parliament, in central London, Britain. (Reuters)

London's Big Ben on Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of its "bongs" to ring in the New Year being broadcast live across the world.

Ever since New Year's Eve 1923 when BBC engineer A.G. Dryland clambered onto a roof opposite the British parliament to record the strikes, live transmission has become an annual tradition.

The unmistakable sound of the "nation's timepiece" has long occupied a special place in national life.

The bongs are heard twice daily -- at 6pm and midnight and three times on Sunday -- on BBC radio, and at the start of the nightly News at Ten on commercial channel ITV.

Such is their importance that even during the recently-ended five-year restoration program when they were largely silenced, important exceptions were made.

As well as New Year, Big Ben also continued to mark Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday when the nation remembers its war dead.

Big Ben also rang out to mark Britain's departure from the European Union in 2021 and the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022

After a week of testing, normal service finally resumed last November.

While the rest of London is enjoying New Year's Eve, clock mechanic Andrew Strangeway will be at the top of the 96-metre (315-foot) Elizabeth Tower.

The tower houses the clock and its five bells, including the largest one from which Big Ben takes its nickname.

Along with the two other members of the in-house timekeeping team, the 37-year-old will be making last minute checks to make sure the clock will be "within fractions of a second of being correct."

Although the chances of a mishap on the big night are tiny, Strangeway said the clock did suffer a disaster during the 1970s when it stopped due to metal fatigue.

"I think the chances of anything going seriously wrong are small. Our main worry on things like New Year is -- is it going to go off and is it going to be on time," he said.

Completed in 1859, the structure was known as the Clock Tower before being renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to honour the late queen's Diamond Jubilee.

In the years before the renovation, parliament's timekeepers would benchmark the Great Clock's time against the telephone speaking clock.

Now, it is calibrated by GPS via Britain's National Physical Laboratory.

But the method to adjust the clock's timing mechanism remains old-fashioned: old pennies are added or removed from weights attached to two giant coiled springs, to make or lose a second.

"It's a fantastic job," Strangeway told AFP, adding that even when he was out and about in London he would frequently look for Big Ben and think "yes it's still running".

He said he was very excited that he would be "right next to the bells... at that moment when everyone is looking at that clock for the start of the New Year".

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Varieties

Americans to Celebrate Fourth of July with Parades, Cookouts — and Lots of Fireworks

A child holds a US flag as she watches the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks in New York City, New York, US, July 4, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Purchase Licensing Rights
A child holds a US flag as she watches the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks in New York City, New York, US, July 4, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Purchase Licensing Rights
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Americans to Celebrate Fourth of July with Parades, Cookouts — and Lots of Fireworks

A child holds a US flag as she watches the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks in New York City, New York, US, July 4, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Purchase Licensing Rights
A child holds a US flag as she watches the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks in New York City, New York, US, July 4, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Purchase Licensing Rights

The hamburgers aren't the only things sizzling this Fourth of July: Millions of people are under heat warnings as large numbers of Americans traveled to toast their nation’s birth with parades, cookouts and fiery splashes of colors against the evening sky.

Travel records are projected to fall with people already jamming airports and crowding highways ahead of the Fourth of July to get to their destinations. Across the West, meanwhile, residents were dealing with stifling heat as the National Weather Service warned of a “significant and extremely dangerous” heat wave across much of the region, The AP reported.

Fireworks — a staple for the holiday — were expected to reach an all-time high with an untold number of backyard displays in addition to 16,000 professional shows lighting up the horizon from sea to shining sea.

“This is how we celebrate. It’s the bombs bursting in air. It’s the rockets’ red glare. That’s how people show their pride and patriotism,” said Julie Heckman of the American Pyrotechnics Association.

All signs pointed to big celebrations: The Transportation Security Administration reported that a record-breaking nearly 3 million people traveled through airports in a single day last week, and that figure is expected to be broken this week. And AAA projected that 60.6 million people will travel by car during the holiday period. Part of the boost was attributed to easing inflation, though many Americans remain concerned about the economy.

On the much of the West Coast, residents were advised to take precautions to avoid overheating on the holiday.

Temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius) across both coastal and inland areas of California, with heat spreading into the Pacific Northwest. Some spots in the desert Southwest were expecting temperatures topping 120 degrees ( 49 degrees Celsius). Hot, muggy conditions also permeated the Deep South and Middle Atlantic.

The Northern California city of Oroville’s annual fireworks were canceled as an estimated 26,000 residents remained displaced by the growing Thompson Fire, while hundreds of firefighters toiled under extreme heat to keep flames from reaching more homes.

Plenty of barbecue, desserts, cold drinks and the Stars and Stripes were on tap from Maine to Hawaii. But Americans were also celebrating in other ways unique to their communities.

Off the rocky coast in Down East, Maine, some planned to enjoy lobster boat races. Descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were ringing the Liberty Bell 13 times — once for each of the original colonies — in Philadelphia. The California communities of Bolinas and Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco, were engaging in their annual tug-of-war contest in which losers end up in a lagoon.

And, of course, there’s the annual hot dog eating contest on New York’s Coney Island.

The July Fourth holiday generally unites Americans in their shared love of country, but the 2024 version comes against a backdrop of deep political polarization and a divisive presidential race.

In Boston, where tens of thousands were expected to enjoy the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, maestro Keith Lockhart said it’s inspiring to see people of different political stripes gather on Charles River Esplanade. But he noted that “one would have to have one’s head pretty deeply stuck in the sand to not notice the deep divisions in our country.”

“It is, indeed, a dangerous time,” he wrote in an email before the show. “If, even for one day, we can set aside our differences and embrace our commonalities, this has to be a positive thing.”