In 1980, the BBC joked that London’s famous Big Ben clock face would be replaced by a digital display.
The broadcast was an April Fools’ hoax suggesting that the familiar clock would be modernised. The idea sounded startling because the clock’s visible hands and Roman numerals had become one of London’s best-known landmarks. The BBC later revealed that the announcement was a prank.
Big Ben is technically the nickname of the Great Bell inside the Elizabeth Tower, rather than the clock face or the tower itself. In everyday speech, however, “Big Ben” commonly refers to the entire clock tower and its clock. The tower was officially renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
The 1980 joke is therefore often phrased as Big Ben going digital, even though the precise object being discussed was the clock installation associated with the landmark. The hoax played on the tension between historic identity and modern technology.