WORKING OF DANI AND JAMES BRIVA

The Seat of Government

Houses of Parliament

In the middle of the eleventh century, King Edward the Confessor hadmoved his court to the Palace of Westminster, situated on a central sitenear the river Thames. In 1265 a parliament was created with twohouses: the Lords and the Commons. The House of Lords met at thePalace of Westminster while the House of Commons did not have apermanent location.

After King Henry VIII moved his court to Whitehall Palace in 1530, theHouse of Lords continued to meet in Westminster. In 1547 the House ofCommons also moved here, confirming Westminster as the central seatof government, a position it still holds today.

Big BenBig Ben, situated at the Palace of Westminster, is one of the best known icons of London, and has been voted the Most Iconic Film Location in London. The clock, on its own, has been working since May1859. Although the name .Big Ben. actually refers to the bell inside the clock tower, which weighs an astounding 13 tons, it has come to referto the entire clock and clock tower over time. This name came from the commissioner of the bell, Sir Benjamin HallIt is the world.s largest four-faced chiming clock. Each of the four dials measure 2.1 square metres (or 23 square feet). The minute hand is 4.2 metres long (or 14 feet) and each number is about 61 centimetres (or 2 feet) high. Incredibly, this mammoth creation is a very accurate timekeeper. The tower is 96.3 metres (316 feet) high.

Although a clock tower was originally built at the Palace of Westminster in 1288, the current tower had to be rebuilt after most of this structure was destroyed in a fire in 1834. Augustus Pugin was commissioned to design the clock tower, and he followed a Gothic Revival style. He later claimed that he had never worked harder on any other creation. The bell was from the old

Palace of Westminster (before the fire) and was a gift to the Dean of St Paul from William III. However, it was refashioned in 1858 before being hung at the tower. The first time it would echo its chimes would be on 31 December 1923, and the BBC was there to capture it. Thereafter, the BBC would continue to broadcast Big Ben.s bells to indicate the time to its listeners.

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