Like most of us, Big Ben has had a few 'hiccups' during its 150 year lifetime. In 1916, for two years during the First World War, Big Ben's bells were silenced and the clock face darkened at night to prevent attack by German Zeppelins. During the Second World War, from the beginning of September 1939, although Big Ben's bells continued to ring, the clock faces were darkened at night to prevent guiding enemy pilots to central London (the Blitz). On New Year's Eve 1962, Big Ben's clock slowed due to heavy snow and ice on the long hands, causing the pendulum to detach from the clockwork mechanism. It is designed to do this in such circumstances, the objective being to avoid serious damage elsewhere in the mechanism. The pendulum continuing to swing freely but Big Ben chimed in the new year 10 minutes late! The first and only major breakdown of Big Ben's clock occurred on 5 August 1976. The speed regulator of Big Ben's chiming mechanism finally broke after 100+ years of torsional fatigue. This resulted in the fully-wound 4 ton weights applying all of their energy into Big Ben's chiming mechanism in one go. A great deal of damage was caused and Big Ben's Great Clock was shut down for a total of 26 days over nine months. The clock was reactivated on 9 May 1977 resulting in the longest break in its operation since Big Ben's clock was built. On 27 May 2005, Big Ben's clock stopped at 10:07 pm local time. This may have been due to the hot weather (temperatures in London had reached an unseasonal 31.8 °C (90 °F)). Big Ben's clock restarted, but stopped again at 10:20 pm local time and remained still for about 90 minutes before starting again.
On 29 October 2005 the mechanism of Big Ben's clock was stopped for about 33 hours, the lengthiest maintenance shutdown in 22 years. On 5 June 2006, Big Ben's "Quarter Bells" were taken out of commission for four weeks to repair a bearing holding one of the quarter bells, damaged from years of wear and tear. A 6-week stoppage for maintenance of Big Ben's clock started on 11 August 2007. Bearings in the clock's drive train and the "Great Bell" striker were replaced, for the first time since installation. During the maintenance works, the clock of Big Ben was not driven by the original mechanism, but by an electric motor.
OK, so Big Ben has had a few 'issues' down the years but how iconic, how reliable and how uplifting to know the old fellow is there!
For more than 150 years, Big Ben has stood proudly over the Houses of Parliament , the UK's seat of government .
Big Ben is like an old friend to Londoners and London's visitors. Big Ben was here before us and will still be here after we are just a memory. And the regular chimes of our old friend every 15 minutes is a constant reminder to all of us that time waits for no man. | 
