Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower (officially known simply as Clock Tower) as well. The clock tower holds the largest four-faced chiming clock in the world and is the third-tallest free-standing clock tower. It celebrated its 150th anniversary on 31 May 2009, during which celebratory events took place. The tower was completed in 1858 and has become one of the most prominent symbols of both London and England, often in the establishing shot of films set in the city.
The present Clock Tower – metonymically referred to as Big Ben, and historically confused with St Stephen's Tower – was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was largely destroyed by fire on the night of 16 October 1834. The new Parliament was built in a Neo-gothic style. Although Barry was the chief architect of the Palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the Clock Tower, which resembles earlier Pugin designs, including one for Scarisbrick Hall. The design for the Clock Tower was Pugin's last design before his final descent into madness and death, and Pugin himself wrote, at the time of Barry's last visit to him to collect the drawings: "I never worked so hard in my life for Mr Barry for tomorrow I render all the designs for finishing his bell tower & it is beautiful." The tower is designed in Pugin's celebrated Gothic Revival style, and is 316 feet (96.3 m) high (roughly 16 storeys).
Jay Chou; (born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for popular Mandarin singers. Although he was trained in classical music, Chou combines Chinese and Western music styles to produce songs that fuse R&B, rock and pop genres. He composes all his own songs, as well as songs for other singers.
In 2000, Chou released his first album, titled Jay, under the record company Alfa Music. Since then he has released one album per year except in 2009, selling several million copies each. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, most notably in regions such as Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and in overseas Asian communities. He has sold more than 28 million albums worldwide up to 2010. He debuted his acting career in Initial D (2005), for which he won Best Newcomer Actor in both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He produced the theme song for the film Ocean Heaven starring Jet Li. His career now extends into directing and running his own record company JVR Music.
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and record producer. He is frontman and lead vocalist of pop group Take That and the head judge on the The X Factor. Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters. He has had two Number 1 singles and a Number 1 album as a solo artist, and has had sixteen top 5 hits, eleven Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is also a six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has sold over 45 million records worldwide with Take That.
In Barlow's autobiography, he relates that his love of music began at an early age.
"I was one of those kids that's forever dancing in front of the TV looking at my reflection."
He said he enjoyed watching Top of the Pops on television, and when he was ten years old, he watched an episode of the programme in which Depeche Mode were performing their new single "Just Can't Get Enough". Barlow was mesmerised by the sound and decided he wanted a keyboard for Christmas. For the next few years, he spent most of his spare time teaching himself to play his favourite songs.
Don't you get too close
Make a mental note
That something's gonna give
If you wait this time out
A penny strikes the well
And sinks down to the bottom
With so much weight to bear
It's a quick fix so don't you dare back down
Someone please explain
How days so plain
Became so fickle and dangerous
Have gathered an unsettling dust
Have beaten up the both of us
Think Big Ben, Big Ben
Don't go down that easy
A knock at your front door
You answer from the bed
Nobody comes in
Nobody goes out
Mistakes you can't take back
The unforgiven move
If this can't be erased
You're left wondering about what might have been
Chorus
She wants to know the truth
You want to hurt her less
And one day this will pass
Songstress, huh, aah
I'm gonna take you on a ride to a lyrical expedition
In vision, imagine this, I be wishin' everybody would listen
Kissing ass until I was able to step into the arena
Make an impression and lesson to our discovery
I out-smarted mathematicians, blazed through expeditions
Through conditions not envisioned by those who pass predictions
In addition got a mission, a vision, if you would listen
Produce collaboration increasing complications
You understand how my floetry got you bubblin'
I see you wonderin' why you hear my name again
Never the same again, yes we came to win again
And if we fail again will love will conquer pain again
Just take a breath and continue the explanation
Turn off the Playstation, still to my detention
Did I mention poetic extension, my redemption
Soul is in suspension at the realization
With poor libation for ethnic formation
Empower this position, more come to listen
Floetry is like a master of chemistry
Turn your negativity into kinetic energy
You can't test we, no, no, you can't test we, see?
Subtractin' abstract messages from within
That's what I'm givin', that's what I'm givin', that's what I'm givin'
Subtractin' abstract messages from within
That's what I'm givin', that's what I'm givin', that's what I'm givin'
Givin', givin'
Centuries long,day after day
A tune kept tolling over London
Big Ben's bells got very famous
So all the others were redundant
Since the 80's it slightly changed
But no one paid any attention
'Cause the tune it plays is very simple
But the words must come straight from your heart
We like heavy,heavy metal
We like heavy,heavy metal
I don't know who made that tune
But that really doesn't matter,does it ?
All I know is that it should be known
By every fucking metal maniac
There are lots of us,let's unite & rejoice
If you don't know how just use your voice
It's a simple tune so it won't take long
Take a breath & sing this song
We like heavy,heavy metal
We like heavy,heavy metal
Centuries long,day after day
A tune kept tolling over London
Big Ben's bells got very famous
So all the others were redundant
Since the 80's it slightly changed
But no one paid any attention
'Cause the tune it plays is very simple
But the words must come straight from the heart
We like heavy,heavy metal
The stripes you wore
The lines you get
The holes in your sleeve
You told me to leave them alone
Does "House of Leaves"
Still lie on your bed?
You told me to read
But I still never read
Your mind
When I look at my city
Something's not right
No doubt it's so pretty
But they turned out the light
And instead of good morning
They tell you goodnight
You hung yourself
On the wall up above
The bed you made love
The girls you don't love
To touch
And they never guessed
The girl you loved best
To draw, always drew
Pictures of you
Undressed
When I look at my city
Something's not right
No doubt it's so pretty
But they turned out the light
On Sunday nothing opens late, the clock across the river chimes
It towers above the, we cross, we're bound for better times
We join the flow that's headed west and start
Letting go of what's kept us apart
Arriving at forgiveness, free to face the wintertime
Where memories rise out of the dark and play and shadows climb
While we decide what still applies and what can go
Clouds curl across the sky and the wind moans low
And I'm free to find some understanding
What used to be my world's expanding
I see the city in her eyes, the river's rushing and the lights have changed
And I suppose it's just my jealous streak
Draws out a word and makes it last all week
And turns and shapes it all into a noose
'Cos I can't bear to have the ends left loose
But at my best, I do believe in love
I can't conceive of only sky above
Seems to me we get to choose this stuff
Let's pick the path that's true, though the road is rough
And we'll be up where the stars are streaming
Glittering trails across the sky, still gleaming
The city shivering below, all lit up,
Dreaming of the Spring's soothing hand
Don't scratch the surface for the sake of it
Just because you know the ache will fit
The hole inside this soft and soothing thing
Where the soul is worn away and love still stings
Like the wind that leaves the trees all standing
Shy and naked as their leaves are landing
Who knows where, carried on the air