On May 27, 2005, time stood still in London. Big Ben, the 147-year-old clock that is famous around the world, mysteriously stopped for 90 minutes. The clock’s minute hand stood frozen at 10:20 PM and then suddenly began moving again at 11:50 PM. Engineers were baffled and unable to explain why the clock stopped. Big Ben is usually considered to be very reliable and rarely loses even one second.

Big Ben is world renowned for both its accuracy and its hourly chimes. It miraculously survived the bombing attacks on London during World War II. Despite the attack, it even managed to keep time to within one and a half seconds of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). However, Big Ben has not always been so reliable: snow caused the clock to ring in the New Year ten minutes late in 1962.

Although many people make the mistake of thinking that Big Ben is either the name of the clock itself or of the clock tower, it is actually the name of the 13-ton bell that strikes on every hour. It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who ordered the clock’s construction. The official name for the tower that houses Big Ben is St. Stephen’s Tower.