Read the text and choose the CORRECT alternative.
Big Ben’s Culture
Big Ben is a focus of New Year celebrations in the UK, with radio and TV stations tuning to its chimes to welcome the 'official' start of the year. Similarly, on Remembrance Day, the chimes of Big Ben are broadcast to
mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and the start of two minutes silence.
For many years ITN's "News at Ten" began with an opening sequence which featured Big Ben with the chimes
punctuating the announcement of the news headlines. This has since been dropped, but all ITV1 and ITV
News Channel bulletins still use a graphic based on the Westminster clock face. Big Ben can also be heard
striking the hour before some news bulletins on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, a practice that began on December 31, 1923.
The clock features in John Buchan's spy novel The Thirty-Nine Steps and makes for a memorable climax in
Don Sharp's 1978 film version, although not in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 original adaptation. A similar scene is
recreated in the 2003 film, Shanghai Knights which culminates with Jackie Chan hanging from the hands of the
clock. The clock also appears in the animated cartoon Basil, the Great Mouse Detective.
An earlier film climax on the clock face of Big Ben appears in Will Hay's 1943 film My Learned Friend, although
the scene is more slapstick than thriller.
Available in: <http://saberingles.com.ar/reading/big-ben.html> Access in: julho de 2015.