Big Ben is one of London’s best-known landmarks. It looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. The four dials of the clock are 23 square feet, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of worked, Sir Benjamin Hall. The clock tower was completed in 1859 and the Great Clock started on May 31, with the Great Bell first struck time on July 11 and the quarter bells first chimed on September 7.

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