About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), and the Hoax Forum.

The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.



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#35: Big Ben Goes Digital
image1980: The BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was going to be given a digital readout. The announcement received a huge response from listeners shocked and angered by the proposed change. The BBC Japanese service also announced that the clock hands would be sold to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in a bid.

Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Smileys

God I love Japanese people, they're so cool. Way to go fisherman guy!
Posted by Bob (I swear it)  on  Sat Apr 02, 2005  at  09:48 PM
Hey they did this in Futurama!
Posted by NeeL  in  The Netherlands  on  Mon Apr 04, 2005  at  12:55 PM
I am impressed with this one. Big Ben is a bell inside St Mary's Tower!
Posted by Maddie  in  Winchester, UK  on  Thu May 26, 2005  at  03:44 AM
I thought the tower was called St Stephen's?
Posted by Joanna  in  U.K  on  Thu Mar 02, 2006  at  08:34 AM
oh my god, where the hell are u guys from?!?! BIG BEN IS THE GODDAMN CLOCK IN LONDON!!!

the hoax itself isnt that funny, although its a clever idea, but the japanese response is crack-up lol
Posted by spongebob  in  the land of smarties  on  Fri Mar 24, 2006  at  07:05 PM
Actually SpongeBob, Big Ben refers to the bell inside the tower, not the clock itself. People commonly refer incorrectly to the clock as Big Ben. Where the hell are U from?
Posted by Gert  in  Australia  on  Thu Mar 30, 2006  at  09:15 PM
tongue rolleye haha, that sounds pretty funny
Posted by April  in  California, USA  on  Sat Apr 01, 2006  at  06:15 PM
Land of the Smarties, obviously... Thus, Idaho??
Posted by Sarah  in  Liverpool, UK  on  Sat Apr 22, 2006  at  04:04 PM
Big Ben was acually named "the Belle"It was
re-named in 1472 after the renowned clock maker
Ben Tallius (circa 1895)It is due to Ben that
Europian time scale is 1:50th of the world scale
divided by the power of ten (that is GMT to you
and the rest of the world) now internationally accepted.
Fact of History from English Man "Enough of all this April fool stuff"
Posted by chris pender  in  Stoke-on-Trent England  on  Sun Apr 01, 2007  at  08:10 AM
Forgive me if I'm being a stupid norhterner but doesnt big ben only have two hands and therefore there would be some difficulty in sellign them to the first 4 callers!??!?!?!
Posted by Nick Bramley  in  Leeds  on  Mon Apr 02, 2007  at  03:26 AM
ha ha!

P.S. I'm not a fan of analog clocks, wish this wasn't a hoax! wink
Posted by stringbassgirl  in  this galaxy, the world  on  Mon Apr 02, 2007  at  02:39 PM
P.P.S. cool facts chris! thanks for enlightening us!
Posted by stringbassgirl  in  this galaxy, the world  on  Mon Apr 02, 2007  at  02:40 PM
Nick: the Big Ben (the clock tower) has four clock faces. So, each of the caller would have received a set of two hands.
Posted by Devil Master  on  Sun Aug 05, 2007  at  11:07 AM
Great fun that some British citizens objected
to this by saying the Big Ben is a national
gem and should not be changed in any way! wink
Posted by Lars Petersson  in  Sweden  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  12:17 AM
yeah.
but i think this idea is really special!
i'll find it cool, when this will be at any time:-P
Posted by Chris  in  Switzerland  on  Wed Apr 02, 2008  at  11:02 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages

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