for many years, the minute demarcations, the numbers and the clock hands, were painted black. but during the refurbishment, as many layers of paint were stripped away, it became clear that they were originally this shade of blue — it's called prussian blue — and that is what they've been repainted in. this restoration project was originally budgeted at £29 million. the total bill is now set to exceed 80 million. as you pulled off the layers of this building, you find more and more that needs to be done. when we're taking out one piece of stain, adjacent stains often needed to be replaced. it's one of those things — until you can get up close to it, it's very difficult to see the scope of the repair. chiming with the clock mechanism out of action, a computerised system has meant that on special occasions, big ben has still been struck. we're standing in the belfry of the elizabeth tower, - and it was specially _ constructed so that the chiming bells for the four quarters i could be heard right across