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Today's BBC World Service Item on "Big Ben"
From: Richard B. Langley
Date: 2014 Aug 14, 14:13 -0300
From: Richard B. Langley
Date: 2014 Aug 14, 14:13 -0300
On my way in to work this morning, I listened to the BBC World Service as I often do (via Sirius satellite radio; it's very difficult, though not impossible, to get it on HF these days in eastern North America). The Outlook program this morning had an item on The Great Westminster Clock, a.k.a. "Big Ben" and its time keeper, Paul Robeson. It was an interesting listen. You can hear or download the podcast of the Outlook episode at this Web page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/outlook More on Paul Robeson here (includes a couple of laughs): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/big-ben-behind-the-clock-face-7578555.html The BBC item reminded me of an earlier posting of mine to Navlist on 1 January 2009 in response to one by our dear-departed George Huxtable, relating a local association with "Big Ben": http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx/Leap-seconds-Big-Ben-Langley-jan-2009-g6883 By the way, there's a recording of "Big Ben" (and the unusual 7-pips Greenwich Time Signal) ushering in 2009 on the GGE website: http://www2.unb.ca/gge/Resources/7pips.NewYear.BBC.Radio5Live.aifc Another distantly-related "local connection" is the factoid that it was on the Great Western Railway that standard time was introduced in Britain in 1840. The line, connecting London to The West Country, went through (and still does) Keynsham, a small town betwixt Bath and Bristol. It was where I was born and lived for about 8 years. And one last connection, while I'm on a roll, the first shortwave listener QSL (confirmation of reception) card that I received as a high-school kid in a suburb of Toronto was from the BBC. It features a picture of the clock tower. I still have it. A scan is attached. -- Richard Langley ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Richard B. Langley E-mail: lang@unb.ca | | Geodetic Research Laboratory Web: http://gge.unb.ca/ | | Dept. of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering Phone: +1 506 453-5142 | | University of New Brunswick Fax: +1 506 453-4943 | | Fredericton, N.B., Canada E3B 5A3 | | Fredericton? Where's that? See: http://www.fredericton.ca/ | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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