The Top Floor Flat

It’s quarter to seven in the morning on a Saturday and the fire alarm is going off in the Top Floor Flat. While normally this might be cause for alarm and a rude wakeup, today it’s just our temperamental toaster starting the day. Ann and I groggily wander around the flat, checking we have passports, collecting multiple forms of identification and forgetting the toast before making our way (quietly past our probably furious and equally groggy neighbours) to the London Houses of Parliament for the Big Ben Enthusiasts tour.

This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of the clock, clock tower and bell and Ann has secured a pair of tickets allowing us to take a tour up the tower to view the internal workings of the clock and the great bell itself in action as it tolls the (early) hour. Ourselves and 18 other enthusiasts are the very first group to celebrate Big Ben’s Birthday and as we stand under the famous buildings of Westminster alongside the Thames, I wonder how many Americans get to experience this bit of British history.

There’s a great deal of waffling, it seems, as to what each part of the famous structure actually named. The official word from our tour guides is that the tower is called the Clock Tower (not, as some people believe, St. Stephen’s Tower – there is no such tower on the premises), the clock is called the clock and the bell is called Big Ben. Our tour begins with a quick jaunt up the lower half of the 334-step tower before taking a breather in one of the many rooms that populate the 96m Clock Tower. Here we get a proper introduction to our tour guides, Ian and Paul, the official Palace of Westminster clockmakers who are responsible for not only the Great Clock in the tower but also the other 2000-odd clocks throughout the Houses of Parliament. These guys are seriously passionate about clocks, describing the intricacies of weighing the pendulum with copper pennies, difficulties of rewinding the clock three days each week and the cleaning and lighting of the clock faces.

The bell has had a rocky history. Although we’re celebrating its 150th birthday, it’s origins are from slightly earlier and in fact today’s bell is actually the second version after the first one was broken during test tolls and had to be remelted and cast. Then, shortly after moving into its tower home, misuse of the bell led to a crack in the side that has remained ever since. It’s slightly noteworthy that the company that built Big Ben also made the Liberty Bell so cracks seem to be a trend.

As we ascend the tower, we pass through increasingly exciting bits of the historic monument. From just behind the clock face, roman numerals longer than my arm appear backwards against translucent sheets of glass while above us the clock mechanism is keeping perfect time as dozens of gears wind slowly around. On the half and quarter hours the small quarter bells chime somewhere in the unexplored part of the tower, a hint of what’s to come. Finally, we climb into the cloudy sunlight and the belfry where nothing but a few planks of wood and wire netting separate us from a three-hundred foot tumble. There, in all its glory, is Big Ben itself.

With earplugs in and breath held, Paul and Ian count down the seconds to 10am and the quarter bells start to chime. Sixteen counts later, the hammer lifts against Big Ben and falls to strike the first toll of the ten o’clock hour. Half a minute after the final chime stops, the belfry is still vibrating around us as the resonance fades away.

After the main attraction, we head back down to the Westminster Palace halls but not before we’re presented with commemorative pins to mark the anniversary of Big Ben, a unique piece of memorabilia that only those who toured the tower can claim. As Ann and I leave the Houses of Parliament in search of brunch (the morning’s burnt toast seeming very far away indeed) we give a parting glance to Big Ben which will host another 500 visitors before the weekend is out. I’m happy to be the first to say it, Happy Birthday Ben, thanks for being such an iconic part of London skyline and history.

If you’d like to learn more about the Big Ben 150th anniversary celebrations or find out about public tours up the Clock Tower, visit http://www.bigben.parliament.uk/.