BBC tribute to the Big Ben bongs
20 December 2013 (updated on 20 December 2013)
The 90th anniversary of Big Ben chimes heralding in the New Year on BBC Radio will be celebrated by BBC Radio 4 Extra who are marking the occasion with a series of seven commissioned poems and clips broadcast between 26 December and 1 January 2014.
Specially commissioned new poems by Ian McMillan pay tribute to the sound of the bell, as heard on BBC Radio, reflecting the iconic status that the familiar chimes have earned down the decades and across the globe.
The poems are interwoven with rarely heard archives to create lyrical soundscapes which take the listener on a journey through war time and peace time, from the Southern Hemisphere to occupied France, icy British winters and metal fatigue.