I thought this was a joke at first......

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/903328-b...queens-jubilee

"Big Ben" is the name of the bell. The tower has always been "the clock tower of the houses of parliment" - so giving it a name doesn't really change anything.

I thought the tower was called St Stephens tower?

Yep, Big Ben will still be there even if the tower is called something different.

And it is a lovely tie in with Victoria Tower.

Judging by some of the unwarranted outrage I've seen on other online sites, it's amazing how some people can't read an article properly and don't know that it's the bell that's called Big Ben.

Did these people never watch Blue Peter as children?

They could have at least tied in the new name for the tower with the name of the bell, and called it Big Betty.

WHAA WHAA WHAA

It was a question on Qi, apparently its not officially known as St Stephen's Tower, that's another tower at Westminster. It's always just been "The Clock Tower".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Step...s_Tower#Towers

On the national news this morning in USA (NBC Matt Lauer) they said "Big Ben renamed Elizabeth Tower". No attempt to explain the Bell is Big Ben and the Tower is not. One sentence would have changed a misconception and educated millions of people. Doh!

as if the yanks care

Or many other people come to that.

I would have voted for Big Bill had I been asked.. but I wasnt