Developments
• Big Ben's bongs fell silent in London Saturday morning for the first time since 1956.
• The hands were wound to 12 o'clock as a month of maintenance began ahead of the clock's 150th anniversary in 2009.
• The famed bell that sounds the hour at Britain's Houses of Parliament will be silent for four to six weeks as engineers replace bearings in the clock mechanism.
History
• Parliament's neo-Gothic clock tower, designed by Charles Barry, is popularly known as Big Ben, although the name refers only to the 13.5-ton Great Bell inside.
• Big Ben first rang out in July 1859. Soon after, it cracked — as an earlier version had during testing. Officials simply turned the bell so the hammer wouldn't strike the crack. That same bell, crack and all, remains in use.
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