Longitude - A Great Book!

[Dale]

I saw the movie (Netflix) and it was good. It was amazing to see the process un-fold and the pains he took to make it work.

I would recommend.

[anjou]

The crown and the monarch are slightly different

Crown is the state or establishment, of which the monarch is the head.

ie, the crown own all the foreshore and therefore the monarch takes all title of goods therein like washed up salvage but in reality, it doesnt actually belong to the reigning monarch, usually the receiver of shipwrecks or insurance company underwriting the loss.

Sadly, so few British people know anything about their own country, and a recent survey of juinior school kids showed hardly any knew what the queen did, or even who jesus was.

We arnt encouraged to be proud of our nation or to celebrate historical victories like Trafalgar.

Kids know more about jordan, paris hilton and david beckham than they do about chrsitmas or easter

[Boomp]

Same here...likely even worse. That's the burden of what humans dub as 'progress'. Before 'clickers', before 'computers' [hmmm] I could go on, but this is why people sail. Even then while we bring some of the technical things with us. We strive to appriciate Jerimiah Johnson, Lord Nelson, Slocumb and a multitude of others who set the pace for adventure. Half of our newspapers today are so called entertainment pages or contrived and often fan flamed 'stuff' that is in reality garbage....ie the 'rain here may lead to swarms of dangerous mosquitoes', 'top notch plumber retrieves artificial eyeball from sink drain''President swats fly'....So Paris, Depp, and others are nothing but fodder to fodder...its a 'sign' of the time we live in. I rant...I'd rather sail, Sorry.

Gotta get the movie and pay attention to my 'longitude'!

[James S]

Originally Posted by anjou

The crown and the monarch are slightly different

Crown is the state or establishment, of which the monarch is the head.

ie, the crown own all the foreshore and therefore the monarch takes all title of goods therein like washed up salvage but in reality, it doesnt actually belong to the reigning monarch, usually the receiver of shipwrecks or insurance company underwriting the loss.

Sadly, so few British people know anything about their own country, and a recent survey of juinior school kids showed hardly any knew what the queen did, or even who jesus was.

We arnt encouraged to be proud of our nation or to celebrate historical victories like Trafalgar.

Kids know more about jordan, paris hilton and david beckham than they do about chrsitmas or easter

So I STILL got it wrong....damn

I wont give it another go....but I will say that I'm American so may be excused for my ignorance of your culture.
It doesn’t excuse my ignorance of my culture however

[CarlF]

It's certainly worth a visit to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich to see some of Harrison's clocks - including H4 that won the prize.

Then off to a one of the excellent nearby pubs to have a pint or two of bitter and contemplate what it felt like to steer a 170ft ship through a stormy night with no idea of your longitude.

Carl

[anjou]

Originally Posted by CarlF

It's certainly worth a visit to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich to see some of Harrison's clocks - including H4 that won the prize.

Then off to a one of the excellent nearby pubs to have a pint or two of bitter and contemplate what it felt like to steer a 170ft ship through a stormy night with no idea of your longitude.

Carl

I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Greenwich as the instruments in the observatory are outstanding. And thats not all, for at the bottom of the hill is the Royal Naval Hospital which exhibits the most exquisit Naval artwork and furniture.

Less than 200 yds from there is the Cutty Sark but sadly off limits as she suffered a severe fire 3 years ago

[anjou]

Originally Posted by James S

So I STILL got it wrong....damn

I wont give it another go....but I will say that I'm American so may be excused for my ignorance of your culture.
It doesn’t excuse my ignorance of my culture however

Hunni, your far from ignorant, your a very tallented shipwirght.

If the US had watched as much UK tv as the uk has watched US tv, maybe the tables would be turned.
There was a topic on BBC Radio2 today about the British knowledge of all things American and how, due to TV its made us more knowledgable than we are of our European neighbours

[Paul Elliott]

If you get a chance to stop by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, you can see in person some of Harrison's clocks (and stand on the Prime Meridian!). A humbling and very interesting experience.

The A&E movie based on the book stars Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon (as Harrison). Available on DVD, this is an excellent production, and I found it quite moving. The book is also a must-have.

(edit: Oops! I hadn't seen page two of this thread. But do visit the Observatory if you can!)