1936: How the BBC first recorded Big Ben

On New Year's Eve, 1923, BBC engineer AG Dryland climbed onto a roof opposite the Houses of Parliament with a microphone to record the chimes of Big Ben. The sound he captured has been broadcast on BBC radio ever since. This is an extract from the Scrapbook for 1924 radio programme.

In 1967, the head of the Home Service, Gerard Mansell, proposed that Big Ben be dropped from the start of the Ten O'Clock News when the channel was reformed as Radio 4. However, this was at the time when ITV News at Ten had started to use the bongs, and the idea was immediately rejected by producers.

Originally recorded circa May 1936.