The famous bongs of Big Ben have become so “temperamental” they began ringing six seconds fast.
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Mr. Westworth told listeners the dedicated clocksmiths have been working on the problem.
Jaggs said in a statement that Big Ben is a mechanical clock and is not digital.
“It is a little temperamental”.
“You can’t just wind the hands forward”, said Mr Westworth.
Adding or removing each penny to the pendulum of the venerable bell varies the rate of its swing and changes the clock speed by 0.4 seconds per day.
Parliamentary officials said Tuesday that mechanics had corrected the clock to within “normal parameters” – within 2 seconds of the right time.
Big Ben is the name of the Great Bell at the top of the 96-metre-high Elizabeth Tower, but is often used to refer to the tower itself, which looms over the Houses of Parliament. It went from being fast to being slow. He explained that it takes clocksmiths a lot of time to climb 334 steps three times a week to rewind the timepiece. As it strikes the bell we’ll stop the stopwatch.
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The Commons Commission recently hired surveyors to check on the state of the tower as part of a wider survey for repairs to the Palace of Westminster Palace. The building also has electrical problems, fire risks and multiple safety hazards. A team of abseilers had not just the height – 315ft – to contend with, but the fact that the glass panels are extremely thin and fragile because the dials were once lit by dim gaslight.
