Big Ben

The famous clock tower just north of Parliament, “Big Ben” is actually the name of the clock’s 14-ton bell. Built with the new Parliament buildings in the mid-nineteenth century, the name Big Ben was supposedly inspired either by Parliament’s Chief Commissioner (Sir Benjamin Hall) or a popular boxer (Benjamin Caunt). The bells play part of the aria from Handel’s Messiah, “I know that my redeemer liveth,” which is accompanied by the lines “All through this hour Lord be my Guide / And by Thy Power no foot shall slide.” Big Ben’s tower has a cell for imprisoning agitators at the Palace of Westminster, the last of whom was suffragette leader Emiline Pankhurst in 1902.