Cold Makes Big Ben Change Its Tune

LONDON — Big Ben was as frozen as the rest of London on Monday, and one of its bells produced only a “dull bong” in striking the hour.

A rubber fitting that absorbs the strike of the hammer on the great hour bell gradually froze, a government official said, causing distortion in the distinctive chimes.

Big Ben, the Parliament bell-tower clock, provides one of London’s most familiar sights and sounds but runs a risk because it is exposed to the elements.

London’s temperature never rose above 26.6 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, the lowest in January since the winter of 1939-40.

“It’s only wire mesh between the bells and the outside world” and the frozen mechanism “changed the tone of the bell to a dull bong,” an Environment Department official said. “It was not its normal self.”