Big Ben To Fall Silent for Thatcher Funeral

The bells of Big Ben and the Great Clock at Westminster will fall silent this Wednesday 17th April 2013 during the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, told MPs the bells would stop chiming as a mark of respect for the country’s only female prime minister, who died aged 87 last week.

‘Speaker Bercow has concluded that the most appropriate means of indicating the House’s sentiments, would be for the chimes of Big Ben and the chimes of the Great Clock to be silent for the duration of the funeral proceedings,’ a statement said.

The last time Big Ben was silenced was during the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

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