ACTIVATE Find out about earthquakes in When did it occur? Did it damage any buildings?
your area. Answer the questions.
1 What was the largest earthquake in your area?
2 How can people prepare for an earthquake?
What should they do in case of an earthquake?
The clock tower is 318 feet high. You have to go up 374 steps to reach the top. So the clock looks small from the pavement below the tower. But its face is 23 feet wide. It would only just fit into some classrooms. The minute-hand is 14 feet long. Its weight is equal to that of two bags of coal. The hour-hand is 9 feet long.
The clock bell is called Big Ben after Sir Benjamin Hall. He had the job to see that the bell was put up.
Sir Benjamin was a big man. One day he said in Parliament, "Shall we call the bell St. Stephen's?" St. Stephen's was the name of the tower.
But someone said for a joke, "Why not call it Big Ben?" Now the bell is known all over the world by that name.
The tower was built by English architect Augustus Augustus Pugin in 1859 , the clock tower started May 31, 1859 [ 4 ] . The height of the tower , including the spire - 96.3 meters. The lower part of the clock mechanism is located at a height of 55 meters. The official name until September 2012 was " The Clock Tower Palace of Westminster ," the press it was often called the Tower of St . Stephen [ 5 ] . According to the decision of the British Parliament renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II [ 6 ] .