Big Ben to bong again in 2022

Big Ben will bong to welcome in 2022, the Houses of Parliament has confirmed. 

The bell will be struck 12 times as it hits midnight on New Year's Eve, despite other celebrations in the capital being cancelled. 

It will be the first time in nearly four years that the clock face of Elizabeth Tower will be on show for the event, following years of restoration.

And it will be the last time a temporary mechanism will be used to sound 

However, it gave Parliament the opportunity to carry out its biggest repair and conservation project in the building's 160-year history. 

The clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison and installed by Edward John Dent in 1859.

Its mechanism, which weighs eleven-and-a-half tonnes, was removed and taken to clock specialists the Cumbria Clock Company in the Lake District, where more than 1,000 separate parts were cleaned and repaired. 

Each clock face is made of 324 pieces of pot opal glass, which were produced in Germany.

Big Ben’s chime is so important to the national psyche that arrangements were made during the renovation for it to strike each year on Remembrance Day, to commemorate Britain’s war dead; and to usher in the New Year.

The pieces have now been returned to Westminster and are being reinstalled over the coming months.

But the clock face - restored to its original colours - is now on show, and from spring next year, Big Ben and the four quarter bells will once again play the "Westminster Quarters" melody and bong on the hour throughout the day. 

The Elizabeth Tower has been freshly painted, finished with enough gold to cover four tennis courts and covered with more than 7,000 replacement stone carvings.

One of Parliament's team of clock mechanics, Ian Westworth, said: "It's iconic - it's probably the world's most famous clock, and to have had our hands on every single nut and bolt is a huge privilege. 

"It's going to be quite emotional when it's all over - there will be sadness that the project has finished, but happiness that we have got it back and everything's up and running again."