Big Ben to fall silent for Margaret Thatcher's funeral

YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS: The bells of Big Ben and the Great Clock at Westminster are to be silenced as a mark of respect during the funeral of Lady Thatcher on Wednesday, the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has announced.

In a statement to MPs, Bercow said silencing the bells was the most fitting tribute to the late prime minister following a number of representations. It is thought that they were silenced during the funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965.

As reports Armenpress, referring to Guardian, Bercow told MPs: "I have received a number of representations, direct and indirect, formal and informal, concerning how the house and parliament as an institution might best mark this occasion. I have considered all of these, but concluded that the most appropriate means of indicating our sentiments would be for the chimes of Big Ben and for the chimes of the Great Clock to be silent for the duration of the funeral proceedings.

"I have therefore made the necessary arrangements to achieve this. I believe that there can be a profound dignity and deep respect expressed in and through silence and I'm sure that the house will agree. "Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister who chairs the True Blue operation organising Thatcher's funeral, welcomed the Speaker's announcement.

Maude told the Commons: "I am confident that this will be seen as a very dignified and respectful gesture on the part of parliament and I am very grateful to you. I am confident that Lady Thatcher's family will take it very much in that spirit and be hugely appreciative of what you have decided."

Big Ben is the main bell of the Great Clock atop Elizabeth Tower – named after the Queen in her diamond jubilee year in 2012 – which sounds every 15 minutes. It has occasionally failed to sound since it first chimed in 1859. But it was intentionally silenced for two years during the First World War when the clock was darkened to deter German Zeppelins, according to a report by the Associated Press in 2009 marking Big Ben's 150th anniversary.