As Big Ben chimes seven, it’s time to celebrate the day 151 years ago, that the famous bell was drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster.
To show that cuts in Westminster are nothing new, the cost of the bell was reduced by recycling the metal from the previous, faulty bell:
George Mears, then the master bellfounder and owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, undertook the casting. According to foundry records, Mears originally quoted a price of £2401 for casting the bell, but this was offset to the sum of £1829 by the metal he was able to reclaim from the first bell so that the actual invoice tendered, on 28th May 1858, was in the sum of £572.
If you’d like to know what Big Ben itself has to say today, you can follow it on Twitter: @big_ben_clock.
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
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Sammy Going South, Suez and the end of the British Empire
Torchwood, Dr Who and centuries of history at the edge of Gower
Jason Connor 
Phil Wainewright 
peter wrigley 
David Raw 
Graham Jeffs 