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Repairing Big Ben: Behind the scenes inside Elizabeth Tower | Red Box

After almost five years near total silence, Big Ben is ready to bong again. In this exclusive video, Times Red Box was granted rare access inside Elizabeth Tower to see the restoration of the most famous clock tower in the world. In keeping with the British of building work, it is late and over budget, but the stonemasons, glazers, metalworkers, electricians, painters, clockmakers and technicians think the wait will have been worth it. The bells fell silent on August 21 2017, and has only been reconnected for special occasions like Remembrance Sunday and New Year. The hands on all four faces have now been re-attached to the Victorian clock mechanism, which contains 1,000 components and weighs over 12 tonnes. The entire mechanism was taken apart, taken down the Elizabeth Tower and transferred to a converted cowshed in Cumbria where it could be restored and repaired in secret. Keith Scobie-Youngs, from the Cumbria Clock Company which carried out the work, said that for a horoologist it was like playing in his own “World Cup”. He added: “One of the reasons being it is the world's most famous clock tower. And secondly, it was a massive step forward in public timekeeping and so because of that, it gives you a chance as a professional to understand the thoughts of those early clockmakers.” Up to 500 people have worked on the restoration of the clock tower, which he described as “a 96 metre beacon to heritage craft skills”. The 16-kilo pendulum helps keep the clock to accurate within one second per week. Fans of the 1978 film version of The 39 Steps will recall the dramatic ending, which saw the star Robert Powell smash one of the glass panels of the clock face and climb out, hanging on to the minute hand to stop a bomb going off. Today the scene behind the glass is much more modern - with low-energy LED panels installed to light the clock face at night, which can be programmed to change to any colour which will allow Big Ben to be lit up for national holidays or campaigns. MPs and members of the public, some in tears, gathered in Parliament Square in 2017 to see it turned off. Now one of the most photographed buildings in the world, it has not always been so popular. Matthew Hamlyn, chair of the Elizabeth Tower project board, said: “It absolutely wasn't the world's most popular bell when it was first installed. And then famously, when it was switched off, or they were trying to work out the cracks, there were members of parliament in both houses saying, Oh, thank goodness they’ve turned that terrible bell off… awful noise”. Big Ben is actually the nickname given to the the first bell, cast in 1856 at Stockton-on-Tees, and transported to London by rail and sea. But during tests it cracked so a second bell was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. This also cracked and fell silent for four years, before being restored to full voice in 1863. Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_... Find us on Facebook:   / timesandsundaytimes   Follow The Times on Twitter:   / thetimes   Follow The Sunday Times on Twitter:   / thesundaytimes   Find best pictures and news videos from The Times on Instagram:   / thetimes