Q 01/05

In wartime Britain, the BBC broadcast Big Ben striking nine each night as the signal for what?

A) The nightly blackout

B) A minute of silent prayer

C) Pub closing time

D) Lights out in barracks

Answer · why

B) A minute of silent prayer

A minute of silent prayer, later known as the Big Ben Minute, was kept across Britain as the clock struck nine each evening, even while the bombs were...

Q 02/05

What new name did Big Ben's tower receive in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee?

A) Windsor Tower

B) Elizabeth Tower

C) Queen's Tower

D) Jubilee Tower

Answer · why

B) Elizabeth Tower

Elizabeth Tower replaced a very plain official name, the Clock Tower; Big Ben has only ever been a nickname.

Q 03/05

Big Ben stands at the north end of which building?

A) Buckingham Palace

B) The Palace of Westminster

C) The Tower of London

D) St James's Palace

Answer · why

B) The Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster is the home of Parliament, and it is called a palace because kings lived on the site from the 11th century, when Edward the ...

Q 04/05

Which architect designed Big Ben's tower, his last work before illness and death in 1852?

A) John Nash

B) Augustus Pugin

C) Christopher Wren

D) Charles Barry

Answer · why

B) Augustus Pugin

Augustus Pugin wrote that he had never worked so hard in his life as on these drawings, made for the chief architect Charles Barry; he died aged 40 an...

Q 05/05

In which year was the tower completed?

A) 1859

B) 1834

C) 1851

D) 1843

Answer · why

A) 1859

Construction had begun on 28 September 1843, with the contractors Thomas Grissell and Morton Peto.