For those who have the opportunity to see the firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill bear in mind some facts about the gun while watching the big boom take place.

The gun gets fired daily, excepting on Sundays to mark the time of 12 noon for the citizens of Cape Town. There is one exception to this rule regarding the Sunday firing of the gun and that is when the Gun Run, which is an annual half marathon, takes place in the city. The race ends at 12 noon and the gun gets fired on that day signaling to those that have not crossed the finish line by the time of its booming that they have not completed the race in the pre-requisite qualifying time.

The gun booming also had another part to play in Cape Town's history when during the 2nd world war when it was fired all the citizens of Cape Town would stop what they were doing for a 2 minute period of silence so as to reflect on those who had died during the war.

Enjoy the big bang!

Article submitted by: Selwyn Davidowitz
Email:cptn@mail.com

SATOUR accredited tourguide with an immense passion for Cape Town and its surrounds. To see more about Selwyn's services as a tourguide please click here .