British Billy and Big Ben

  • Published
  • By British Billy
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  I trust that 2014 is treating you all well. Personally speaking, it began with the disappointment that the Queen has once again overlooked me in her New Year's Honours list, so I will have to wait a little longer before I can be addressed as Sir Billy. Considering my significant cultural contributions, I would have thought that if Sir Patrick Stewart could be knighted for his services to Star Trek, I might have had a chance, but never mind. I remain optimistic.

A few of my American pals, along with about 100,000 others, joined the New Year festivities on the banks of London's River Thames, as the chimes of Big Ben ushered in the year 2014. The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast by the BBC for the first time on New Year's Eve 1923 and so this year marked the 90th anniversary.

According to recent tourism surveys, Big Ben is still London's most recognizable tourist attraction. The name Big Ben is often used to describe the tower, the clock and the bell but the name was first given to the great bell alone, whose first strike was heard July 11, 1859.

The clock is renowned for its reliability. It is said that it has never been known to be faster or slower than three seconds. It is checked on a daily basis, and the time mechanism is wound by hand three times a week.

The iconic image of the clock tower has appeared in many films, most notably in the 1978 version of 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', in which the hero, Richard Hannay, attempted to halt the clock's progress to prevent a bomb detonating, by hanging from the minute hand on the western face. It was also depicted as being partially destroyed in the episode 'Aliens of London' from the BBC's much-loved television series, Dr. Who in 2005.

I find something reassuring about Big Ben, as it stands proudly overseeing the Palace of Westminster, the River Thames and the daily lives of Londoners, stoically ticking like the heart beat of the great city itself. It continues to chime as politicians come and go beneath its gaze, reminding us that time waits for neither man, nor cat.