[HN Gopher] A man who changes the time on Big Ben
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       A man who changes the time on Big Ben
        
       Author : simmerup
       Score  : 35 points
       Date   : 2025-10-26 14:10 UTC (7 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.mylondon.news)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.mylondon.news)
        
       | yawpitch wrote:
       | And they say no man can stop the march of time.
        
         | scrollop wrote:
         | You're saying this man can stop the march of time? Or of a
         | clock?
        
       | denimnerd42 wrote:
       | Time change was last week in London :)
        
       | sigio wrote:
       | Technically, Big Ben is the bell, not the clock, from the article
       | as well:
       | 
       | > A common misconception is referring to the entire tower as Big
       | Ben, when in fact, that's just the name of the bell. Andrew
       | clarified: "So it's The Great Clock inside the Elizabeth Tower
       | that rings Big Ben."
        
         | embedding-shape wrote:
         | > Technically, Big Ben is the bell, not the clock, from the
         | article as well:
         | 
         | Technically I guess yeah. The tower that used to be called the
         | "Clock Tower", is now called "Elizabeth Tower" yet it's also
         | true that the de facto nickname for the entire tower is "Big
         | Ben", even though technically that is the name of the bell, not
         | the tower itself.
        
         | Lio wrote:
         | I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, this is completely
         | true.
         | 
         | Big Ben is the bell not the clock.
        
           | ivanbakel wrote:
           | Probably because it's unclear what this pedantry about
           | synecdoche contributes to the discussion. Many people
           | (including journalists at the state broadcaster) happily
           | refer to the whole tower as Big Ben, so that is functionally
           | one of its names.
           | 
           | Is the fact that the name originates from a bell, and that
           | the official name for the tower is different, interesting?
           | Maybe. Is it worth "correcting"? No, for the same reason it's
           | not worth policing people's use of "Google" to mean
           | "Alphabet".
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | While I'd typically agree that pedantry is normally rather
             | boring, the pedantry in this case is actually interesting
             | in that the individual properties of the object have their
             | own name and are addressable uniquely. It sounds like they
             | are public as well.
             | 
             | I also reject your premise this is anything similar to
             | referring to Google/Alphabet as interchangeable.
        
           | b00ty4breakfast wrote:
           | pars pro toto, dawg.
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | Big Ben is actually the name of the scientist, the bell is more
         | frequently referred to as "The Creature".
        
         | tolerance wrote:
         | So is "Big Ben" some kind of recursive synecdoche?
        
         | clickety_clack wrote:
         | Ah, you've fallen for the "no true Big Ben" fallacy.
        
         | b00ty4breakfast wrote:
         | prescriptivists go home
        
       | ndr wrote:
       | PSA: The Big Ben tour (not Parliament) includes a climb to the
       | clock room, and all the way up to the bells. Take the 11 a.m.
       | slot and you'll catch all 12 bongs at noon.
       | 
       | The story of how it was designed and built is full of engineering
       | mischief and process hacking. Very much in the HN spirit. Highly
       | recommended.
        
       | nosrepa wrote:
       | I wonder if he still uses his playdate to check the time.
       | 
       | https://social.panic.com/@playdate/113749875959498684
        
       | levzettelin wrote:
       | His name is Strangeway, he's sporting this preposterous mustache,
       | and he looks after Big Ben. The guy is basically a living meme
       | lol. He must be fun at parties; at least for like 2 minutes haha.
        
       | timthorn wrote:
       | And the men who used to clean the clockface:
       | https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/cneezrj0981o
       | 
       | Certainly scary enough for Hallowe'en.
        
         | pimlottc wrote:
         | That link is geo-restricted, but I think this is perhaps the
         | same clip on YouTube:
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/ID5cViSga68?si=egKkbNrHw-_UOrmj
        
           | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
           | Stupid me, I assumed there was a tiny clock driving the
           | mechanism that was just geared up to trigger the bigger
           | machinery. That instead looked like a regular clock scaled up
           | to Big Ben size.
           | 
           | Also - those guys are insane. The "safety harness" was a
           | wooden plank chair with some ropes dangling you over the
           | abyss.
        
             | op00to wrote:
             | They really are simply nuts. A harness? No need!
        
       | jasoneckert wrote:
       | The first thought that popped into my mind when reading this
       | article was whether Andrew Strangeway was the Elder who
       | maintained The Internet on Big Ben, because the sitcom "The IT
       | Crowd" has ruined me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg
        
       | subtlesoftware wrote:
       | Little Ben
        
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