A man who changes the time on Big Ben

simmerup | 44 points

PSA: The Big Ben tour (not Parliament) includes a climb to the clock room, and all the way up to the bells. Take the 11 a.m. slot and you’ll catch all 12 bongs at noon.

The story of how it was designed and built is full of engineering mischief and process hacking. Very much in the HN spirit. Highly recommended.

ndr | a day ago

I wonder if he still uses his playdate to check the time.

https://social.panic.com/@playdate/113749875959498684

nosrepa | a day ago

Technically, Big Ben is the bell, not the clock, from the article as well:

> A common misconception is referring to the entire tower as Big Ben, when in fact, that's just the name of the bell. Andrew clarified: "So it's The Great Clock inside the Elizabeth Tower that rings Big Ben."

sigio | a day ago

And the men who used to clean the clockface: https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/cneezrj0981o

Certainly scary enough for Hallowe'en.

timthorn | a day ago

The first thought that popped into my mind when reading this article was whether Andrew Strangeway was the Elder who maintained The Internet on Big Ben, because the sitcom "The IT Crowd" has ruined me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg

jasoneckert | a day ago

Time change was last week in London :)

denimnerd42 | a day ago

And they say no man can stop the march of time.

yawpitch | 8 days ago

Little Ben

subtlesoftware | a day ago

His name is Strangeway, he's sporting this preposterous mustache, and he looks after Big Ben. The guy is basically a living meme lol. He must be fun at parties; at least for like 2 minutes haha.

levzettelin | a day ago