You may have noticed that Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower have had a bit of a spruce up recently. Scaffolding went up, and the iconic clock dials and bell underwent a huge restoration project to keep them ticking (and bonging) for generations to come. But how exactly do you go about restoring the world's most famous clock?

Enter Keith Scobie-Youngs, director and co-founder of The Cumbria Clock Company. Keith and his team, alongside UK Parliament's clock mechanics, were responsible for fixing the Great Clock of Westminster. The project was the first time the entire mechanism had been removed from its home since it was installed - so no pressure then.

Keith and the team had a mammoth task, which involved moving more than 1,000 individual Victorian clock pieces to their workshop near Penrith in the Lake District. Here they cleaned, repaired and restored each component before returning them to their London home - all without guidance, as no such project had been attempted before. 

Intrigued about how they did it? Keith is giving a free online talk about the restoration project, on 20 January at 6pm. And if you've got questions for him (yeah, us too) there's a chance to ask after the talk. Get your ticket now - the clock's ticking!

All images: © UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor