Why does Big Ben bong on the radio before it does in real life?

The debate over whether Big Ben should bong to mark Brexit isn’t the first time the famous bell has caused consternation. Listeners to a BBC radio news bulletin in 1949 were horrified when the chimes failed to sound. They had to wait until a later bulletin for an explanation: the clock was running four minutes slow because a swarm of starlings had gathered on the minute hand.

In fact, right from the start there were problems with the Great Bell. (That’s its official name — ‘Big Ben’ is a nickname honouring, depending on who you believe, either Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or Benjamin Caunt, a heavyweight boxer.) The original bell, cast in Stockton-on-Tees, cracked during tests in New Palace Yard. A replacement was made at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and carried to Westminster through cheering crowds on a trolley drawn by 16 horses. It began striking on 11 July 1859, but within two months it too had developed a crack.