X-Nico

unusual facts about Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster



2007 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 10

On Saturday July 7, 2007, the Individual time trial started in Whitehall, London passing Westminster, then along Victoria Street and Buckingham Gate, past Buckingham Palace and looping through Hyde Park before finishing in The Mall.

69263 Big Ben

It is named after Big Ben, the bell (extending to the associated clock and clock tower) at the north end of the Palace of Westminster.

Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover

Hall (1802–1867, after whom "Big Ben" is said to have been named, as he was Commissioner of Works in 1855 when it was built), was for some years Member of Parliament for Monmouth, but transferred to a London seat just prior to the Newport Rising which brought with it a turbulent time in Monmouthshire.

Augustus Charles Pugin

Pugin married Catherine Welby of the Lincolnshire Welby family of Denton and his developing interest in the Gothic was to be magnified in the career of their son Augustus Welby Pugin, an architect who was the leading advocate of Gothicism in 19th century England and the designer of the Palace of Westminster, home of the United Kingdom Parliament.

Bardarski Geran

In the village's centre, right next to the clock tower, there is a monument to a Soviet fighter plane crew that crashed in the vicinity in World War II, as well as a monument to the locals that perished in the Balkan Wars and World War I.

Ben Caunt

It is said that "Big Ben", the hour bell of the clock-tower of the Palace of Westminster, is named after this English Heavyweight Champion.

Brian Donohoe

In 1981 Donohoe became a district officer for the National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO), where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Cannon Row Police Station

The station was responsible for policing Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, The Palace of Westminster (Parliament), No 10 Downing Street, Clarence House, St. James' Palace and was responsible for all major events and demonstrations that took place in Central London.

Carl Gershman

In a 1982 speech at the Palace of Westminster, President Ronald Reagan proposed an initiative "to foster the infrastructure of democracy--the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities."

Clock Tower, Hong Kong

However, as a compromise it was decided that the Clock Tower was to be preserved, and is now accompanied by the Hong Kong Space Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Cultural Centre, all built on former station grounds.

Coat of arms of Canberra

The crowned portcullis again symbolises the parliament, this being the traditional symbol of the Palace of Westminster (which houses the Parliament of the United Kingdom);

Colin Breed

After 17 years with the bank, he became the managing director of Rowan Dartington & Co Ltd in 1981, before becoming a director with Gemini Abrasives in 1992 until his election to Westminster.

Dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Members of Parliament cease to be so, as soon as it is dissolved, and, although they and their staff continue to be paid until polling day, they may not enter the Palace of Westminster.

Dublin Castle administration

The Castle did not hold the judicial branch, which was centred on the Four Courts, or the legislature, which met at College Green till the Act of Union 1800 and thereafter at Westminster.

E major

The bells of the Clock Tower in London's Palace of Westminster are tuned to the key of E major, with the result that the Westminster Quarters in their original setting employ the notes E, F-sharp, G-sharp, and B.

Edward Middleton Barry

Foremost of these was the new Palace of Westminster, which was at length entrusted to him by the government; and Halifax Town Hall.

Fabian Hamilton

He worked initially as a taxi driver for a year from 1978 before working as a graphic designer until 1994 when he became as a computer systems consultant with Apple Macintosh Computer systems, which he undertook until his election to parliament.

Filth Pig

The title was allegedly derived from a statement made in the British Houses of Parliament, where bandleader Jourgensen was described as a filthy pig by MP Teddy Taylor.

Harry Worth

Another sketch involved Worth complaining to a policeman outside the Houses of Parliament that Big Ben clock was slow because Jimmy Young, the BBC Radio 2 presenter known for "always being right" had said that it was ten minutes past ten, while the clock said it was 10am.

Herbert Dunnico

However, when the Parliamentary Labour Party was reduced in strength after its split at the 1929 general election over Ramsay MacDonald's formation of the National Government, numbers were reduced, and in 1934 membership was opened to all men working in the Palace of Westminster.

Houses of Parliament Act 1837

It made a number of miscellaneous provisions to give the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings power to purchase land and buildings necessary to prepare the site for the reconstruction of the Palace of Westminster.

John Adey Repton

Before 1835, when he sent in designs for the new Houses of Parliament, he had retired to Springfield near Chelmsford; he gave his services as architect of Springfield church in 1843.

John Burland

Burland worked also on the construction of a large underground park at the Palace of Westminster and the stabilising of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City.

Joseph Gurney

On his father's resignation in 1849, he was appointed shorthand writer to the Houses of Parliament.

Leasowe

The ceiling of the Star Chamber at the Palace of Westminster was brought to the castle in 1836 along with panelling and other furnishings after the old exchequer buildings were demolished.

Linda Gilroy

In parliament she was a member of the European legislation select committee from 1997 until after the 2001 General Election when she was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Raynsford.

Lords Commissioners

The Lords Commissioners are Privy Councillors appointed by the Monarch of the United Kingdom to exercise, on his or her behalf, certain functions relating to Parliament which would otherwise require the monarch's attendance at the Palace of Westminster.

Lyana Armstrong-Emery

She and her party strongly supported Gibraltarian representation in the Parliament at Westminster and in the European Parliament.

Members of the 1st Dáil

Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party, but refused to attend the British House of Commons in Westminster.

Millwall Rugby Club

After election of following-season officers at the AGM, the season is rounded off by an annual dinner and awards ceremony at the Palace of Westminster hosted by the Honorary President of Millwall Rugby Club, Jim Fitzpatrick MP.

Oxenford Farm

The three highest listed buildings, at Grade II*, are Gothic revival buildings designed by Palace of Westminster-famed gothic revivalist Augustus Pugin.

Parliament of England

It was in this period that the Palace of Westminster was established as the seat of the English Parliament.

Patrick Aloysius Meehan

Patrick Aloysius Meehan (1852 - 10 May 1913) was an Irish Parliamentary Party MP for Leix Division of Queen's County, Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the 1906 election until his death.

Queen Alexandra's State Coach

Like all the State Coaches it has a variety of uses, but perhaps its best-known regular duty is to convey the Imperial State Crown (together with the Sword of State, the Cap of Maintenance and their respective bearers) to and from the Palace of Westminster for the annual State Opening of Parliament.

Sir Walter Nugent, 4th Baronet

Sir Walter Richard, 4th Baronet (12 December 1865 – 12 November 1955), was an Irish baronet, politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1907-1918.

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Asmara

Its tall Gothic tower is loosely based on that of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, London.

Tahu Hole

Up to that point, live news broadcasts had been in audio with the announcer/newsreader speaking over a still picture of Big Ben.

Tony Cunningham

On leaving Strasbourg and Brussels in 1999 he became the Chief Executive of Human Rights NGO INDICT where he remained until his election to Westminster.

Useless Parliament

The parliament was summoned by the king on 2 April 1625 and convened at Westminster on 18 June 1625, first meeting only a month after Charles's marriage to Henrietta Maria, a daughter of King Henry IV of France.

W. T. Cosgrave

Its manifesto promised abstentionism from the House of Commons in Westminster.

West Cork by-election, 1916

2Healy was imprisoned in Frongoch internment camp for supposedly being associated with Sinn Féin, but Sinn Féin repudiated his candidacy for not revoking to take his seat at Westminster, instead had been supported by William O'Brien, who was leader of the All-for-Ireland League.

Westminster Records

Its trademark was Big Ben and its slogan was "natural balance", referring to its single microphone technique in recording music, similar to Mercury Records' Living Presence series.

Windermere railway station

One of the fireplaces is a copy of one of his in the Palace of Westminster.

Yeomen of the Guard

However, their most famous duty is to 'ceremonially' search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster prior to the State Opening of Parliament, a tradition that dates back to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up Parliament.

Zounds

The cover art, by anarchist artist Clifford Harper, featured a painting of fire fighters apparently trying to put out a blaze at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.


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