Britain's Big Ben to fall silent for four years

AFP ^ | 14 Aug 2017 | Staff

[Red Badger]

You can.
People always lie on their resume........

[Red Badger]

They could replace it with a digital clock with atomic precision accuracy for about 5 million...............

[smokingfrog]

[smokingfrog]

[elcid1970]

Soon to become not-so-Great Britain’s tallest minaret.

[oldvirginian]

Big Ben survived the blitz, the V1 and V2 rockets and still rings.
It will be a sad day when the goat humpers silence It for good when they take over.

[wally_bert]

The Chimes Of Big Ben was a really good episode of The Prisoner.

[simpson96]

“It can be replaced with loudspeakers issuing the five-times-daily call to prayer.”

First thing I thought of. I bet London’s mayor dreams of doing it.

[Truth29]

What’s the over/under that it will ever ring again? Maybe Mayor Khan can be consulted on the British future in 4 years.

[onedoug]

...bong ping....

[Buckeye McFrog]

Crap, I thought Roethlisberger was giving up his horrible radio gig.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

Four years isn’t bad, considering the world-wide shortage of qualified watchmakers. I’d love to take on the job, but I’m too far behind wih the American pocket watches here in the shop. Sorry

[GreenLanternCorps]

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Steve Jaggs, whose official title is "Keeper of the Great Clock"

In other words, he is the Bongmaster.

[smokingfrog]

He probably over-stressed the gears and springs doing that. No wonder Big Ben needs to be overhauled.

[Moltke]

A couple of years ago I watched some program about the rich young Arabs and their “summer season” in London, making a general nuisance of themselves in their gaudy supercars. At one point one of those arrogant slugs was driving past Big Ben as it chimed, and he said to his co-driver that “once the place is fully ours, it will be silenced.” The hatred was tangible.

And here we are...

[minnesota_bound]

4 years to fix a clock?

[Red Badger]

Government workers...................

[discostu]

It’s always harder to fix things than to break things.

[dfwgator]

“My cousin’s gay, he went to London......He was so disappointed. He found out that Big Ben was a clock.” - Rodney Dangerfield.