LONDON: London’s Big Ben marked the 100th anniversary of its “bongs” to ring in the New Year being broadcast live across the world.

Ever since New Year’s Eve 1923 when BBC engineer A. G. Dryland clambered onto a roof opposite the British parliament to record the strikes, live transmission has become an annual tradition.

The unmistakable sound of the “nation’s timepiece” has long occupied a special place in national life. The bongs are heard twice daily — at 6pm and midnight and three times on Sunday — on BBC radio, and at the start of the nightly News at Ten on commercial channel ITV.

Such is their importance that even during the recently-ended five-year restoration programme when they were largely silenced, important exceptions were made. As well as New Year, Big Ben also continued to mark Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday when the nation remembers its war dead.

Big Ben also rang out to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2021 and the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. After a week of testing, normal service finally resumed last November.

While the rest of London is enjoying New Year’s Eve, clock mechanic Andrew Strangeway will be at the top of the 96-metre (315-foot) Elizabeth Tower. The tower houses the clock and its five bells, including the largest one from which Big Ben takes its nickname.

Along with the two other members of the in-house timekeeping team, the 37-year-old will be making last-minute checks to make sure the clock will be “within fractions of a second of being correct.”

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2024