Status: Prank
Recently Big Ben's chimes have been silenced as repairs are made to it. Apparently this has inspired policemen at Westminster to revive the BBC's
1980 April Fool's Day joke. The
BBC Reports:
Policemen at the Palace of Westminster are notorious for their mischievous sense of humour when it comes to dealing with tourists. For example, they once nominated a camera-shy constable as the "official" PC to be photographed by visitors eager to be snapped with a British bobby. But the latest wheeze takes the biscuit. Apparently when tourists ask why Big Ben has been silenced for work on the famous bell, they are told: "Because it's going digital."
(Thanks to Andrew Nixon for the link)
Comments
All together now... ding-dong ding-dong, ding-dong ding-dong dingdong.
PS. While the bells were not working BBC Radio 4 replaced the bells, which heralded the 6 o'clock news, with recordings of bird song.
The Ruddy Duck makes a sound that people took for a hoax. It is a strange whiring noise which I cannot describe better.