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If you're the sort of person who dreams of turning your passion into your life's work, there might be one or two better jobs - curator of a steam train museum, say, or chief taster at Cadbury's.
But for sheer pleasure, nay, even joy, what about this - working at the Palace of Westminster keeping the chimes of Big Ben scrupulously on time? A vacancy has arisen for a clock mechanic to take care of the most famous time-piece in the world. The successful applicant will be well-versed in the workings of antique and "turret" clocks, particularly those built on a grand scale.
For your information, the clock in question has a 4.3m (14ft) minute hand made out of copper and a 2.7m (9ft) hour hand cast from gunmetal. It weighs 304.8kg (48st) and has a pendulum of 4.4m (14.5ft) in length. If that hasn't put you off, then bear in mind that the new love of your life must chime to an accuracy of plus or minus two seconds a day - regardless of heat, cold, or, as happened on August 12 1945, the efforts of flocks of starlings to slow it down by roosting on the hands.
Your job description will also include, three times a week, starting up an electric motor that winds up the Great Clock (a process that takes two hours) before tweaking its timekeeping by balancing the odd penny on its pendulum to speed it up or slow it down.
In your new post you will join Mike McCann, the Keeper of the Great Clock, and two incumbent clock mechanics, Ian Westworth and Huw Smith, in maintaining the Great Clock (and all other clocks in the House of Commons).
Westworth and Smith themselves joined only a couple of years ago, but they will readily offer testament to the benefits of the job. "It is something very, very special," says Smith, 44. "There is something magical about working on this job. It goes beyond my wildest dreams."
There is, of course, a catch. The pay, for London, is pretty awful; from £19,429 a year, including an on call allowance of £2,195 which you will probably earn - any glitches must be sorted immediately, regardless of the time of day (or night).
"You don't do this for the money," says Westworth, also 44. "You do it for the love of it. This is a unique job. The clock is a British icon, so there is something prestigious about ensuring that it works perfectly."
Applicants must contact McCann at the House of Commons by March 22. Oh, and please bear this in mind. If you apply for "the Big Ben job" you are unlikely to get past first base. As every schoolboy knows, Big Ben is not the clock, it is the Great Bell. But tell them it weighs more than 13.5 tonnes, has a 203kg hammer, is 9ft in diameter and hits E when it chimes, and you just might be in with a shout.
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