Please read and enjoy our article and watch your FREE LONDON MUSIC VIDEO at the end Big Ben - Someone to 'Watch' Over Me! Is there a sound that assaults your senses more than mournful tones of Big Ben striking the hour? Even the chimes of Big Ben's smaller bells striking the quarter hour are enough to cause everybody within earshot to cast a hurried glance at their watch to check they have the right time. Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock tower at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London, also known as the Houses of Parliament. Of course, nowadays, the clock and indeed the entire clock tower are known throughout the world as Big Ben. Apart from being probably London's most iconic landmark, the 150 year-old Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. The Big Ben tower was raised as a part of a design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834. The new Palace of Westminster was built in a Neo-gothic style. The clock tower was designed by Augustus Pugin, his last design apparently before his final descent into madness and death. The Big Ben tower is 96.3 metres (315.9 ft) high and the four clock faces 55 metres (180 ft) above ground. | 
