England

Big Ben, or to put it correctly: 'The Elizabeth Tower', has four clock faces, and on each of those faces there are two hands. This is a grand total of eight.

'Big Ben' is actually the name of the bell housed inside the tower.

More than any other, with perhaps the sole expection of China heres a quick few a can think of (england/Britain)

1. Television
2. Radio
3. Telephone
4. Steam train
5. Electricity
6. Underground trains
7. Steam Locomotive
8. World Wide Web
9. Sports - Football, cricket, Rugby

additonal (some of these may not be british so correct if wrong):

1. the jet engine

2. English Language

3. The modern Olympics

4. The police

5. The Underground

6. the iPod

7. Sparkling Wine

8. the toilet

9. Vaccination

10. Computer

11. Plastic

12. Vacuum Flask,

13. Paralympic Games

14. Electric Toaster

15. Tin Can

16. Sandwich

17. Vacuum cleaner

18. the Railway

19. the Pub

20. Road Cat's Eyes

21. Hovercraft

22. silicone

23. Radar

24. Rubber

25. Worcestershire Sauce

26. Powered Flight

27. started the industrial revolution

It is a city.

To be a city you must have at least one of the following:

* A Cathedral - originally there was only one denomination (R.C.) but after the Act of Supremacy Anglican is required.

Improvement: There is no requirement for a cathedral in Scotland. During the reformation in the then independent Kingdom of Scotland, not only were the monasteries abolished, but also the title of Bishop as well, and a presbyterian structure adopted. Cathedrals (the seats of bishops) were turned into normal parish churches in the new system which recognised no supremacy of one church over another. However, the cathedrals, being large and costly could not be run on simple parish funds and so most of them were abandoned for smaller structures, the ruins now being tourist destinations.

* A Crown Court. (Not a Magistrate's, Sherriff's or County Court.) A Crown Court, historically dealt with major issues - mainly capital offences - and the attending justices appointed directly from the crown. In others they were local appointments.

Aside: When the crown court system was set up by Henry II, it was, in part, under the pressure of the problems of corruption in local county and magistrates courts. (For U.S. readers - similar to requiring a 'Federal' body to oversee 'State' courts and ensure good justice, such as with the 1960s problems of civil rights. In 12th Century England the local courts were often under the control of powerful nobles who used them to their own purposes.) Due to the shortage of relaible judges, a single judge would have to move from court to court on a rota basis. This became known as 'the circuit'.

* A special warrant or Charter granted by the crown (under advisement from parliament) allowing you to call yourselves a City.

Please note that in the vernacular, "Town" and "City" are interchangeable.

Improvement:

The word "town" has no legal meaning. It originates from tun (Anglo-Saxon) which merely implies a large settlement. There are a whole range of these in Anglo-Saxon, including:

* wice (wick - E.g. Berwick). York comes from Eorfwice ('Eorf's town'), which was known to the vikings as Jorvik. (To confuse you even more the Romans called it Eboracum.) The suffix -wich or -which (Such as Nantwich) derives from this.

* ham or haem

* ingas - "the followers of" - possibly the oldest form, originally referring to a tribe, but becoming associated with the local major settlement. (Hastings - "the followers of Haesta".) Also has a compound form - ingham.

There are also other words referring to specific items an example of which is:

* ceaster or cester. Referrs to a former Roman town taken over in Anglo-Saxon times. A bastardisation of castor in Latin meaning 'fort'. Other forms are caistor, caister, chester. Examples: Colchester, Leicester, Gloucester, Winchester.

Add to this the Norse by, thorpe and so on and on....... AND that there is no precise rule (York surely should have been Eborcester?) but is dictated by local custom and habits, and you see that there is no definitive basis for the meaning of 'town'.

The legal definition of a 'town' is more properly a borough. This again has Anglo-Saxon origins. It also means fort and there are 2 main forms:

* bury: A naturally defined fortification. Shrewsbury for instance is on a hill in a horseshoe bend of the River Severn surrounded by natural marshland.

* burgh: An artificially fortified (normally non-Roman) site. During the viking invasions populations became centered on these. They were either military forts that people moved around to be safer, or existing settlements that were fortified.

Both of these became centres of government and accrued special priveliges. After the Norman conquest it became granted by charter (as with cities) and conferred, at different times in history:

* the right to have their own MPs independent of surrounding areas. (Now defunct)

* The right to make bye-laws.

* Independence on taxation from the local nobility and subordination directly to the crown. (Although it must be said that they were usually highly independent from the crown too as they were run by elected guilds who always wanted to abolish taxation.)

* Freedom to hold free trade markets. (Licenseable to the controlling guild.)

By the time of the Norman conquest, the title and priveliges of borough status no longer required the presence of fortifications, but the name had stuck.

Aside: The 'rotten borough' was a settlement that had been given borough status centuries earlier, but had since been abandoned. By 1832, when the Great Reform Act abolished most of these, there were 246 rotten boroughs in England and Wales. Examples include Dunwich in Suffolk, which was once our largest port but by 1750 had fallen into the sea leaving only 4 houses and a chapel (yet had 2 MPs) and Old Sarum (Old Salisbury), a former hill fort and town which had been abandoned steadily as it was 4 miles from water. The inhabitants moved down the hill to new homes in modern Salisbury. The rotten borough was essentially abolished in 1883 when the rights of all boroughs to independent MPs was removed, and the modern system of constituencies based on population size was created.

Further improvements: Origins and rights of Cities.

"City" Comes from civitas, a late Roman term for a large settlement. It is rarely used before about 1100AD. The only three notable exeptions in Anglo-Saxon times are VERY major items such as London (trading capital and largest settlement), Winchester (the then seat of government) and York - 'by tradition' as the centre of Roman military operations.

Aside: York contains the oldest Archbishopric in Britain, being created in the 3rd Century when Rome converted to Christianity. After the fall of Rome, Two invading groups became dominant - both from modern-day Germany. The Angles had a culture more readily accepting of Christianity - if not endorsed, but tolerated. They were more dominant in the North. The Saxons, who dominated the south, were strongly anti-christian and so the Archbishop of London was executed. The King of the East Saxons (Essex - and at that time ruling the London area) was a particular candidate and in a bizarre twist took personal delight in watching christians being crucified. When St. Augustine was sent by the Pope in 597AD to return Christianity to southern Britain and made Archbishop of London, he stopped at Canterbury, which was ruled by a christian monarch, and his mission went no further. The arrangement became permanant and the Arch-see of London was never re-established.

Beyond being called a City, there isn't that much more improvement over a borough, the title being more honorary. It does however entitle the guild to have a Lord Mayor.

Many cities have been boroughs and cities, but some (such as Westminter) were never boroughs. Nowadays it is a matter of titulation and has no practical difference.