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London is England's most famous city, and Big Ben is arguably its most iconic landmark
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Even people who haven't been to the UK's capital can instantly recognize the ornate tower in its
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massive clock face. Except Big Ben isn't the name of the clock tower, or the clock
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While most tourists haven't seen Big Ben up close, they've likely heard it. The nickname
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belongs to the 15.1 ton Great Bell that rings out over Westminster every hour. So if Big Ben
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is the name of the bell, what's the clock tower called? In the Victorian era, it was called St
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Stephen's Tower, and in the modern era, it was most commonly referred to simply as the Clock Tower
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That was until 2012, when it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's
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Diamond Jubilee. That's still its official title, though Big Ben is widely accepted as shorthand for
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the structure as a whole. Widely accepted is not good enough for a stickler son of a gun like me
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Hi, I'm Justin Dodd. Welcome to Misconceptions. Big Ben's confusing identity is just one of several misconceptions about famous cities we're going to be discussing today
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From the nickname, the Windy City, to the real forbidden-ness of Beijing's Forbidden City
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Let's get started. The London Eye is a Ferris wheel
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Big Ben isn't the only commonly mislabeled landmark in the British capital. Many people
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assume the London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel, but it's technically the world's tallest
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cantilevered observation wheel. Cantilevered refers to the way it's constructed. Instead of
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anchors on both sides of the wheel, it's held up by a single A-frame on one side
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Its size and cabin designs are what distinguish it as an observation wheel. While most Ferris
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wheels are smaller amusement park rides with open-air cabins, observation wheels tend to
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be larger tourist attractions with enclosed glass cabins that allow riders to stand up and move around The London Eye may not be the world tallest rotating wheel full stop but at 443 feet high it earns its landmark status
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The London Underground is totally underground. The London Underground may be a misnomer as well. Despite its name, less than half of London's
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metro system goes through tunnels. It may be more accurate, but the London 45% underground
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doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Chicago's nickname is a reference to wind
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Speaking of confusing names, the Windy City may be the most misunderstood city nickname of all time
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Chicago, Illinois is known for its blustery weather, which is why many people assume
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the phrase is a reference to literal wind. Historians hold a different view, however
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One of the earliest uses of the nickname appears in an 1876 Cincinnati Inquirer article titled
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That Windy City, Some of the Freaks of the Last Chicago Tornado
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OK, rude, but according to word sleuth Barry Poppick, the word choice poked fun at recent
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weather events while implying that the city was full of windbags. Etymologists also point to an 1890 article by Charles Dana
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In it, the New York Sun editor reportedly depicts Chicagoans competing to host the 1893
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World's Fair as being full of hot air, though the original article has never been found
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Regardless of how the phrase is popularized, the wind the Windy City is known for isn't
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necessarily coming off Lake Michigan. Capital Cities are Always the Biggest A country's largest and most famous city
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is often its capital, but that's obviously not always the case. This leads to many world-class cities mislabeled as their nation's political center
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Cape Town, for example, is not the capital of South Africa, despite being the country's
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biggest city with 3.4 million residents, nor is it Durban or Johannesburg, which come in
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close second and third respectively. The distinction belongs to Pretoria, which is actually the
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fifth most populous city. The capital of the land down under is a regular source of confusion
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for non Sydney is Australia largest and best city internationally by far but it not the seat of its government Neither is its second city nor its third fourth or fifth Canberra
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is far from the largest city in the country with a population less than 500,000, but has been the
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capital since the early 1900s. It was built as a compromise following debates over whether to set
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up the government in Melbourne or Sydney. Rio de Janeiro is also commonly mistaken as the capital
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of Brazil. The city did hold the title until 1960, when the capital was moved to Brasilia
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While Rio's beach access makes it a popular spot with tourists, its coastal location wasn't very
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convenient for doing politics. After decades of plans to move the capital inland, construction
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on a new centrally located city finally began in 1956. Less than five years later
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Brasilia officially became Brazil's capital. The location has its political benefits, but with a shorter history and a lack of oceanfront property
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it hasn't supplanted Rio as Brazil's tourism capital. Beijing has the opposite issue. People would be right to assume that the city is the capital of
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the People's Republic of China, but they would be wrong to think that it's the biggest city in the
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country. Shanghai holds that spot with a population of 25 million people in 2023
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making it the third largest metropolis on earth. Beijing's Forbidden City is Off-Limits
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Here's something else you may not know about Beijing. The Forbidden City isn't actually
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forbidden. The Imperial Palace was commissioned by Ming Emperor Zhu Di in the early 15th century
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and it served as the home of 24 emperors over the next 500 years. During that period
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most of the structure was forbidden to civilians, with only the emperor and his inner circle being
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granted full access. That rule changed in 1925, when China's last imperial emperor abdicated the
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throne and the palace opened to the public as a museum. Today, the Forbidden City is one of
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Beijing's most popular tourist attractions, and it's open to everyone, except on Mondays and legal
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holidays Notre Dame has always been beloved by Parisians Notre Dame Cathedral is often named as one of Paris most famous landmarks along with the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe In addition to being one of its most recognizable
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features, it's among the oldest, with construction dating back to the 12th century. It may be
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surprising, then, to hear that the Gothic Church wasn't always cherished by Parisians like it is
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today. It was a common target of vandalism during the French Revolution. In 1793, the cathedral's
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28 statues of biblical kings were removed by a mob and decapitated. It was also around that time
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that all but one of its bells were melted down to make ammunition and cannonballs
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By the early 19th century, the once grand structure functioned as a dilapidated wine
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warehouse. It received a much-needed PR boost in 1804 when Napoleon reinstated it as a church and
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held his coronation there. Several decades later, Victor Hugo published his novel Notre-Dame de
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Paris, painting the building in a reverent light. The book's success is largely credited with
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inspiring the restoration efforts that turned Notre Dame from a crumbling ruin to a treasure
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jewel of the city. New York City's Broadway Theaters Have to Actually Be On Broadway
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Thanks to its association with world-class theater, Broadway in New York City is one
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of the most famous streets on Earth. But when speaking of productions, a venue doesn't have
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to be physically located on Broadway to be on Broadway. While 41 theaters in New York qualify
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as Broadway theaters, only four of them have a Broadway address. A Broadway theater is any venue
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located on the island of Manhattan that seats more than 500 people, while off-Broadway applies
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to Manhattan theaters with 100 to 499 seats. That opens up the possibility of an off-Broadway
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theater located on Broadway, in case navigating New York as a tourist wasn't confusing enough
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And that's all of the city misconceptions we have for you today. What's a misconception about your favorite city? Let us know in the comments
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Did you know that Sarasota, Florida is not just where your grandparents live
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There's also… other stuff. Who am I kidding? Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time
