News

Literal time ladies used to sell people a look at their watches
Starting in 1836, a former Royal Observatory employee named John Belville charged people an annual fee to use his pocket watch. Once a week, he’d come by and visit them and share the time on his watch ...
Astronomy2d
Michael’s Miscellany: Universal Time
In common usage, UT refers to a time scale called Coordinated Universal Time (abbreviated UTC ), which is the basis for the ...
London Evening Standard2mon
Why do the clocks go forward and what impact does it have on your health?
The clocks go forward on Sunday, marking the beginning of British Summer Time (BST). This marks the end of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and will mean longer, lighter evenings from next week.
New Scientist1mon
The clocks that helped define time from London's Royal Observatory
From sundials to atomic clocks, our understanding of time has become a lot more accurate as technological developments allowed us to measure it more precisely. Much more than helping us arrive on time ...
New Scientist1mon
Ruth Belville: How the Greenwich Time Lady kept London ticking
In 1847 the railways agreed to use GMT across the entire network. Therefore, the distribution of Greenwich Mean Time via telegraph signals became absolutely crucial. But not everyone could connect ...
The Irish Times2mon
Reflections from sunny Greenwich as the clocks change to summer time
It was late afternoon on Monday as I stood on the Greenwich Mean Time prime meridian line in the verdant patch of London that gives it its name. I surveyed the park bathed in golden sunlight below ...