Rt Hon JohnBercow (Mr Speaker) rings his bell to coincide with Big Ben at 8.12am thismorning. Big Ben chimed more than 40 times from 8.12am to 8.15am to ring in theOlympic Games

The mass participation event, part of the London 2012 Festival by Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed's Work No. 1197: All the Bells commission for the London 2012 Festival was one of the Festival’s biggest nationwide community projects. It offered everyone in the UK the amazing opportunity to be part of the historic celebrations for London 2012. Big Ben chimes 40 times This morning Big Ben, the hour bell of the Palace of Westminster, chimed more than 40 times from 8.12am – 8.15am to ring in the Olympic Games. This was a historic occasion for one of the world’s most famous bells, as it was the first time that the strike of Big Ben had been rung outside its regular schedule since 15 February 1952, when it tolled every minute for 56 strokes from 09:30AM for the funeral of King George VI. Simultaneous, UK-wide bell-ringing Bells rang everywhere from Britain's northernmost inhabited house in Skaw, the Shetland Isles, to the UK’s most westerly church in Tresco, The Scilly Isles. Three hundred children rang bells on HMS Belfast, which fired its cannons in a countdown to 8.12am. Six hundred Girl Guides rang bells at an Olympic Games-themed camp in the New Forest. In towns across Yorkshire several Town Criers organised bell-ringing events for their local communities, including Michael Wood, three-time world champion Town Crier, who led a bell-ringing event in Beverley, East Riding, Yorkshire with local schools. Over a hundred people joined The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh for bell-ringing on the famous Scotsman Steps. The London 2012 Festival features thousands of events across the UK. london2012.com