Today I was reading my book 'Fall of Giants', I am only about a quarter of the way through it but I am learning much about the events preceding world war one. What I learnt today, however, is more in the realm of general trivia. One of the characters in the book was discussing Big Ben in London and how he likes to point out to people that it is not the clock tower that is called Big Ben but rather the bell inside the clock tower. I did a bit of a double take! I had to reread the line because I had always believed it was the name of the clock tower! Then I had a feeling of deja vu and thought, 'did I already know this', but I cast my mind back and don't recall ever hearing this before, so counted it as learning something today!
I Googled as usual and read that the name Big Ben has generally extended to include the clock and tower and when people refer to Big Ben they are usually referring to the entire clock tower, as I have always done until today! Although even after today I am sure that I will refer to the clock tower as Big Ben, I will just annoyingly point out to people that it is actually the bell not the clock tower that is called Big Ben!
Thinking of this fact cast my mind back to when I visited London a number of years ago and I still remember my first sight of Big Ben, which is an amazing building! My sister took me via the tube into the city and we exited at Westminster underground station, I had no idea where I was and we walked out onto street level, I was focused on not getting mown down by people around me, which many people try to do in busy cities like London, and my sister said, 'look at that' and pointed up. I glanced up and there it was, Big Ben. Like so many other landmarks from foreign countries, I had seen Big Ben on TV many times, and I remember this moment as the first foreign landmark that I had seen in the flesh, so to speak. Seeing it so suddenly and not expecting it, has made the moment all the more vivid in my memory.
If you want to read more about Big Ben, and learn some great facts, such as that it is the largest, four faced chiming clock in the world, check out Wikipedia.
I learnt again!
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