American Couple Reacts: Why Britain Is The Centre of World? FIRST TIME REACTION!

[@TheNatashaDebbieShow]

Prepare for yet another ego stroking United Kingdom! This video is fascinating! We didn't know this stuff! Some of it totally shocked us and other things we learned were so fun to put together. Seems like Britain is at the center of everything! It's so much fun to learn this stuff but hey the USA did have a big part in the purpose of this video. We have to give ourselves some credit! Join us for history, education, fun and shenanigans! Final video of 2024! Thank you SO much for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!

[@JacquelineBarnes-u5y]

Taking the micky..our are you taking the michael

[@jacquelinewatt1241]

Good morning 🙏 🌄 from Scotland XOXO

[@CM-1723]

React to , career criminal survives getting shot in the face by ladbible

[@vanandrewschrisanddione]

Another great video, very enjoyable but a little misleading. President Chester Athur really didn't have much to do with establishing GMT. Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed came up with the formulae for GMT in the 1670's. It was then established by Sir George Airy in 1851. It was President Arthur who gathered together the countries to resolve the issue. At this time the fully estaished GMT of 1851 was adopted. Hope that clears up the gaps left in the otherwise excellent video. 👍😘

[@ianpark1805]

@@JacquelineBarnes-u5y Micky Bliss = Piss. Cockney rhyming slang.

[@stuartmcivor2276]

Quite simple really - "Why is Britain the Centre of the World?" "To annoy the French!"

[@susansmiles2242]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gmf121266]

😂😂

[@alistairgoodwin4472]

and although directly below us we moved them by 1 hour just because we could .so they eat dinner in the dark

[@Frostycatp]

Yes👍🏻

[@paulmccormick]

The most British answer ever 😂could be the answer to why we do anything at all really 😂

[@johngardiner6800]

What was not mentioned was that the Royal Navy accurately mapped the whole world in the eighteen hundreds by sailing ships so accurately that from space you can see countries as they appear on maps taken directly from admiralty charts

[@williamevans9426]

Yes. The basis of this was the sextant (to determine how far one had travelled N-S) and an accurate chronometer on board ship (set by reference to a land-based chronometer) to allow one to determine W-E distance. At the time (!!), the most accurate chronometers used some form of oscillating mass, such as a pendulum, to keep time but, for obvious reasons, this would not have worked in a ship rolling on the ocean. A competition was therefore held by the British Admiralty to design a timepiece that would maintain its accuracy even at sea, culminating in the H4 design of John Harrison in 1759.

[@TryptychUK]

@@williamevans9426 There was also a rising ball at Greenwich and other ports which ships on the river could synchronise their chronometers to.

[@williamevans9426]

@@TryptychUK Yes - I'd forgotten those!

[@surfaceten510n]

A well deserved position seeing as Britain solved the longitude/latitude navigation problem and they invented the modern world with the industrial revolution.

[@kumasenlac5504]

...and now can't decide what a woman is !

[@CeleWolf]

​@@kumasenlac5504 You don't belong here

[@willswomble7274]

@@kumasenlac5504 It is TROUBLE and STRIFE!

[@donaldanderson6604]

I grew up near Greenwich and used to play in the park. We would jump across the line, and then stand in the centre of the world. It's a beautiful place to visit.

[@kevinwhite981]

It upset the French, reason enough 😂

[@templeacoustic-uk]

😂😂 true

[@splodge561]

Excellent 👍

[@Temeraire101]

"Sacre bleu" 😂

[@alendra-f3q]

😂

[@barbieblacksheep8440]

You need to watch Al Murray's countries of the world, he explains well why Britian is the centre of the world LOL, in a fun way :P

[@shanewaterman4125]

.... and why German workers can't sit down for their lunch until WE say it's 1 o'clock 😂

[@Alexynr]

What a load of bollocks, our country is no longer strong it's been slowly worn down by woke mealy mouth corrupt MPs who pander to migrants, who think they can come here and do as they please, they have been responsible for murders, rapes and our spineless MPs are too afraid to do or say anything about it incase they may be called racist or may lose votes what a shite show

[@derekrichardson6515]

Pearl harbour,where the Americans were took completely by surprise 2 yrs into a global war.😂😂😂

[@bryanmuirden1886]

A further argument for London (Borough of Greenwich) to have been accepted as the start point of longitude is that the British had solved the problem of measuring longitude. Without a timepiece that worked on the rolling seas, and in variable temperatures, accurate measurement of travel east or west was not possible. A seaman’s petition was raised, and in 1714 a parliamentary committee was formed to address the problem. Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley were involved. An act of parliament was passed and a prize fund of £20,000 promised to the one who solved the problem. A poor, Yorkshire born, uneducated, working class lad called John Harrison had a great desire for learning; this came to the ears of a clergyman, who in 1712 allowed Harrison to borrow the science books that most interested him, and one year later Harrison crafted his first timepiece. Others followed, as did the invention of new clock parts, which improved accuracy and durability. He knew a pendulum mechanism could not work at sea so he set about resolving the problem. After four year he was ready to set off on the two hundred mile journey to London to present his timepiece to the Board of Longitude (1730). It was not straightforward as the board were mostly convinced that the solution was to be found in astronomy rather than timekeeping. Harrison could not find The Board of Longitude, as it had no base, so he sought out one of its members, Edmund Halley, who took him under his wing. It took another five years for Harrison to piece together the Harrison No.1 timepiece, after which it was presented to The Royal Society, where it was received with great enthusiasm. In typical British fashion the admiralty dragged its feet for a year before beginning sea-trials. Despite severe seasickness Harrison proved the accuracy of his navigation, against that of the ship’s captain, using the Harrison No.1. At the same time innovations in the measurement of latitude, and the mapping of the stars came upon the scene. To cut a long story short, accurate measurement of longitudinal travel was now possible thanks to the genius of Harrison. His ground-breaking timepieces can be seen on display at the Royal Museums Greenwich. No visit to London should miss out on a visit to Greenwich.

[@toastedsandwich1]

No. I live in Greenwich we have enough tourist.

[@Lazmanarus]

The gov't refused to pay out the prize to him for a long time, he was very elderly when they were eventually forced to give him the money.

[@susanpearson-creativefibro]

Thanks for this Bryan, I’m always interested to hear about historical Yorkshire people of note.

[@andrewwhite3793]

The reason the UK is the zero point is that they developed a time piece via John Harrison timepiece to aid navigation so no more sailing by the stars kzbin.info/www/bejne/il7KY2qBiJWsn7s

[@kumasenlac5504]

Britain is the centre of World Time because it was the first to develop a time-based navigational system. This was then adopted by other nations and Ground Zero for time was agreed to be in a park in London. 7:25 : Longitude Act - 1714. Trains - 1830s 16:06 : Simple practicality - almost all the existing navigational charts were British and there wasn't a properly organized printer's caucus demanding that all old maps should be scrapped.

[@peregreena9046]

The alignment for the prime meridian is the Royal Observatory. In fact, the prime meridian was moved a few times a few yards, when the Observatory was upgraded, and new, more precise instruments where housed beside the original. These instruments have only one axis, to track up and down along the prime meridian. Their purpose was to measure the exact time the sun, moon and stars used for navigation, passed the prime meridian. This was necessary for compiling the Nautical Almanac.

[@BlueTangWebSystems]

The French also had a meridian that they promoted to be the world standard. There are markers on the ground at the Louvre where the line was. Greenwich won that battle but the French ultimately won the standard for metric measures and UTC time.. the modern computer age version of GMT

[@markj66]

It's not 180 degrees North or South - it's 90.

[@Lazmanarus]

correct.

[@davidholden2658]

I'm glad someone else spotted that!

[@StewedFishProductions]

Came here to make a similar comment... Quite an error to make on a video uploaded to YT !? 🤔

[@scotmark]

@StewedFishProductions I wonder if the Map Men have a video on this topic. They are VERY entertaining geeks!

[@robertmassie4903]

The USA president did not give us the centre of the Earth. He only organised a meeting.

[@LukeCaddyUK]

@@sarahfoster6765he organised the meeting, he didn’t decide the place, otherwise what would be the point getting all those countries together.

[@LukeCaddyUK]

@@sarahfoster6765 I know and so did the person before you.

[@sarahfoster6765]

⁠@@LukeCaddyUK OMG thank you Luke I just re read it & I realised my comment went to the wrong person, oops 👍🏻

[@LukeCaddyUK]

@@sarahfoster6765 haha no worries!

[@pbc8254]

UK pensioner I've been watching you beautiful ladies for years and I've enjoyed so many of your videos. The truth is that America is the centre of the world these days, in so many ways but it's so lovely that you wonderful girls appreciate the contribution that we've made to the world over here. I wish you both a very Happy New Year, and send you love and thanks for representing the best and kindest of humanity. You're special people! Much love ❤️

[@markj66]

Natasha if you're still unsure about towns having different times, consider the time of sunrise. Say sunrise is 6am where you are, then a couple of miles to the west of you, sunrise will be a minute or two later, and a few miles west, later still. Towns set their own times by sunrise and consequently midday, based on and when the sun was highest in the sky (12pm) in their particular location. This caused problems on a train journey because you would have set off in a different town to the one you got off the train in, and the times had to make sense rather than having to keep up with the local time throughout your journey. We do it now with time zones but it's a lot more organised rather than leaving it to the individual towns.

[@muskrat645]

Check out the Bristol Corn Exchange clock. It shows local and London time by having two minute hands. Noon at Bristol is 10 minutes behind London.

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Sunrise is a bad example,because North and South affect it, too. Local noon on the other hand...

[@TryptychUK]

Generally it was measured by a sundial at noon when the sun is highest in the sky and leaves no shadow.

[@davidgreenfield3204]

GB, home of the train. Just saying. 💂🌹🌹

[@GazzaBoo]

And the chronograph which revolutionized sea navigation. 👍

[@VeritySnatch]

12 o'clock is mid day, which is when the sun is directly above your head. thats a different time for each town because they they all have the sun directly above them at different times as the earth spins

[@debbie8674]

Britian you never cease to amaze! Love learning all this interesting stuff about the world.

[@JJ-of1ir]

We do our poor best! Thank you.

[@margaretnicol3423]

Greenwich is a good place to visit when you're in the UK. It's not just the Royal Observatory that's there. There's also the Maritime Museum and the old tea clipper the Cutty Sark which I think you'd love.

[@TryptychUK]

A couple of good pubs, too.

[@IanSlevin-Music]

As a New Subscriber from here in the UK watching your videos has been a real pleasure, I love all your videos and have been binge watching now for weeks really great entertainment well done and Thank you for making great content, good luck for the Future and all the very best for 2025 x Ian

[@BH-rx3ue]

I just say we invented time, because we invented pretty much everything else!

[@johndownie7030]

Just wanted to say thanks to the two of you. You have given me a great deal of entertainment over the last year My favourites were where you tried foods from the uk. I hope you eventually get to come to the Uk specifically to Scotland Have a great new year and I look forward to seeing more of your content in the coming years Take care of yourselves

[@becksyno7]

I love how you went from feeling patronised to explain it to me like I’m a two year old 😂❤️

[@Varksterable]

Was going to say the same. Any video which goes rapidly from patronising to mind-blowingly difficult is great. (I've done enough maths and science that it didn't catch me like this, but Natasha's reaction was delightful. 😊) Also, I do hope they read some of the many comments about how the UK had already established a standard time because of train timetables, and had already cracked the longitude problem. Their president had the global clout to get worldwide agreement, which was great. But from our point of view, this was just a paperwork 'check in the box' exercise.

[@JJ-of1ir]

Oh dear Ladies. I am so humbly grateful that they 'let us' have the '0' position at Greenwich on the World's map. It was a nail biting moment I am sure. After all, we had been sailing the oceans for just a while, exploring the world's lands for just a bit: mapping everything in sight at unbelievable expense. We had solved the 'world's unsolvable problem of Longitude'. Meaning that - for the first time in history - ships no longer 'bumped' into lands all over the Globe and had to guess where they thought they were. I am almost positive that Switzerland only went to the Conference to talk about how to solve the Railway Timetable problem. It's Representative's must have been miffed to have travelled all that way to find a land locked country didn't have much to say on the matter - no matter how very beautiful Switzerland is. I have a suspicion too that Austria, another land-locked country might have been 'in the same boat! (despite having the Right to dock in other countries within its Empire). The cost of map making was scandalous so 72% of 'the floating commerce of the World' used Britain's maps at the time. All that would have been hard to change. I think this .. eh .. video creator might like to take an 'even bigger' deep dive into the subject. BTW. This Conference was a follow-up of one in Rome to 'find' a World Meridian, that all Representatives discounted immediately afterwards. America, God bless her, was trying again. Delegates felt their National Pride was at stake and passionately argued their case. Others, not in line to 'have' the Meridian on their soil pointed out though, that the British had not even put their own Greenwich Meridian forward for consideration - which upset a few who thought this very high handed and typical of Great Britain. If you have an idle moment, please read the Minutes of this American Conference. It will make you laugh and maybe feel, as we do, a kinship and great fondness towards the French. Great Reaction today Ladies`! Look after yourselves and .....HAPPY NEW YEAR

[@chriswilliams6335]

Other reasons why the British were (quote) "good at oceans" at that time was the invention of John Harrison's timepiece - which greatly improved navigation around the world - and the work of Robert Fitzroy, Captain of HMS Beagle, whose expertise in studying the weather eventually led him to found the world's first meteorological office and weather forecasting as we know it today. Fitzroy invited a young Charles Darwin on one of his expeditions (and we all know what happened to him).

[@shot9702]

Back in the day, "The sun never set on the British Empire". They set the standards we have today.

[@eventingcrazy]

So basically, the rest of the world just agreed with something that we already knew. Bravo!

[@LilMonkeyFella87]

The creation of the detailed maps and charts were thanks to John Harrison. The British government put out a reward of £20,000 (about 3 million in today) in the early 1700s to anyone who could design an accurate clock to be used at sea to allow ships to correctly chart their position. John Harrison came up with the H1 sea clock. That clock is still working today and is in the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, along with the actual Meridian line marker on the floor outside the observatory

[@andrewcoates6641]

The reward was offered due to the sinking of a fleet of Royal Navy sailing ships in a severe storm in the English Channel that also took the lives of many sailors including the admiral of the fleet who had gone to bed because the only way they could accurately calculate their position was to use a device called a sextant at midday in Greenwich and then take similar readings at their local noontime wherever they were sailing and by using a set of tables published by the Royal Observatory and some very complex calculations that were basically all a guess because they had to estimate their speed each day in Knots by throwing a place of wood into the water behind the ship but attached to a rope that had markers tied to the rope that one man had to count the number of knots had entered the water, which count was measured in Knots per hour,( which is a measurement of the number of nautical miles per minute which are not as long as a mile on the land) so the fleet commanded by the Admiral( who I believe was called Admiral, Lord Collingwood who was asleep in his grand cabin and hadn’t managed to get an accurate fix for several days because of the storm and thus had no way to know what his exact location was or where the rest of his fleet were( all signals being reliant on reading the flags flown by the other ships) were inaccurate and none knew any accurate idea of the real time, nor could they make any calculations in those sea conditions so they lost the fleet , the trained sailors and the fortune in gold and jewels that they had taken from the ships that they had fought the enemy for .

[@johnleonard9090]

The main breakthrough was with the H4, which was designed to be used to transfer the time from H3 which would be kept in deep in the ship (probably in a location that was least affected by the ship’s movements) up,to the area where they were taking reading of the sun at it’s highest point. The H4 proved to keep time better than the H3, I believe it was after this that they finally conceded and gave him the prize money.

[@eventingcrazy]

@@johnleonard9090 Then in the 1980's, two brothers from Peckham found it in a house clearance. ;-)

[@chassetterfield9559]

That's not quite strictly true. The grid network of latitude & longitude lines that the charts are built upon dates back to Gerardus Mercator in 1569. Calculating latitude, the N-S component of position was fairly easy & well understood for a long time. It involved noting when a celestial object crossed your meridian [ ie reached maximum elevation in the sky ]. Finding your longitude was however a serious problem, and the Board of Trade did indeed offer a prize for a solution. Galileo had proposed noting the time of eclipses of the 4 known moons of Jupiter. The time that the meridian passage occurs fixes your local noon. It was realized that a precise chronometer, synchronized with noon at Greenwich would allow you to determine how long before or after noon at Greenwich your local noon was occurring, and hence your longitude, according to 1 hour every 15 degrees. That's what Harrison set out to do. However, it was not the only horse in the race. Astronomers had noted the fairly rapid motion of the Moon against the background of other celestial objects. They proposed that, if the apparent 'distance' between the edge of the Moon and the Sun at Greenwich was known for any date & time, and an observation taken at another place was compared, it would be possible to calculate your position relative to Greenwich. This 'Lunar distance' method was championed by Astronomer Royal Neville Maskelyne. He figures quite strongly in the whole Harrison saga, and is often portrayed as the villain of the piece. Lunar distances certainly predate Harrison clocks as working solutions. It had required some serious amounts of work by a German astronomer, and also work by Leonard Euler on solving the " 3 body problem ", before the necessary books of tables could be drawn up. The calculations were quite complex, and could take even an experienced expert 3 -4 hours each to complete. During the sea trials of the Harrison clocks, Lunar distance measurements were used as the arbiters of relative time. Even after Harrison's success with H4, things didn't change quickly. precise chronometers were still very uncommon, and VERY expensive. On his second voyage, Cook took along K1, a chronometer of the Harrison type built by Kendall. It had cost £500. The whole ship only cost £2800. On his first expedition to the South Seas , Cook did not carry a chronometer at all. On his second voyage, he packed four, including the K1. As late as the start of the 19th century [ Trafalgar etc ] only about 7% of naval ships were equipped with chronometers. During the great voyages of exploration, position fixing at sea and surveying / chart making was mostly down to the astronomers on board. Lunar distances only really fell out of favour in the mid -late 19th century, partly because of more, cheaper chronometers, which then allowed introduction of newer, more sophisticated methods of celestial navigation than those hitherto carried out.

[@timhannah4]

@@eventingcrazy 🤣🤣Millioaires Roders 🤣🤣

[@jackielouise7538]

We have a TV programme here in the UK called 'Great Railway Journeys'. It's presented by Michael Portillo and it started out as 'Great British Railway Journeys', but has since expanded to him traveling on the railways in other parts of the world too. He always carries with him a 'Bradshaw's Guide'. These were a series of railway timetables and travel guide books. George Bradshaw produced the first one in 1839, which was before the first standardised 'railway time' was introduced in November of 1840. Before then each of the towns and cities in the UK had their own 'local time' which was a few minutes different to the time in the next town or city. This, as you can imagine, caused a lot of confusion, especially when trying to compile a railway timetable. It's difficult to imagine just how people coped with it all, but then, I guess people didn't move around as much as we do now 😊

[@MilaHoffman-h3y]

What a terrific video to end the year! Honestly, coming across your channel in 2024 has been such a blessing. I enjoy learning, laughing and crying alongside you both. Natasha, you are a bit like me! (A chatterbox!) and very intelligent. And Debbie, my goodness, if only there were more people in the world like you. You're a diamond. You both are. I hope you have a great 2025. May all your hopes and dreams come true. From this weird German...

[@skipper409]

Bristol (UK) corn exchange has a clock showing local time and “train time”, as, at the time it was made, cities a hundred miles apart could have different times and it didn’t matter (until trains needed everyone to agree)

[@rayofhope1114]

Chester Arthur was of British ancestry -- Welsh and English I believe. Just saying !

[@Rob_Infinity3]

"The Germans don't sit down for lunch until Britain says so." - Al Murray

[@James-wp3jq]

You should have done the Al Murray version !

[@ChloeAndBetty]

London/UK time is only the same GMT in the winter for about 5 months of the year, in summer for about 7 months, we are on British Summer Time which is 1 hour ahead of GMT.

[@RichWoods23]

15:52 "...so it was kind of a natural choice ... to let Britain have this centre point." Because an Empire-wide system was already in place and had been for three decades, while all the other contributing countries either had a single localised time zone, several arbitrary zones that matched their geography (or railroad centres in the case of the USA) or something that aligned with the British system.

[@MikeSmith-ye9ho]

Here in Britain, we used to have different time zones within the country It was Isambard kingdom Brunel which changed all that with his railway line between London and Bristol In Bristol, there is a clock that reads the old time and the new time. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a very famous designer that designed things like the Clifton suspension bridge Metal ships and many many other things. Typing do KZbin, Jeremy Clarkson‘ on Isambard kingdom Brunel it’s a extremely interesting documentary on the man’s life and his accomplishments It’s a sort of documentary that both of you would thoroughly enjoy

[@Ubique2927]

Britain was also quite good at TIME! With chronometers on British ships way better than others.

[@michaels640]

11.24… when it became noon in Washington (the sun directly overhead) it would become noon in the other place 24 minutes later when the sun had travelled across the country and was directly above the other place. Each place took noon to be when the sun was directly overhead, high would be different times elswhere.

[@willswomble7274]

He NEVER mentioned who invented the first accurate clock, which made accurate, seagoing navigation and time zones possible. Guess what country he lived in...;)

[@sarahstevenson6088]

Hi. I am from the UK & I have just come across your channel. I already love you guys! Xx

[@debbie8674]

❤ back to you.

[@steverpcb]

Natasha, 12:00 mid day is when the sun is directly overhead, in Bristol this happens 10 minutes later than it does in London. The clock on the Corn Exchange in Bristol has an extra minute hand to show both Bristol and London times ( 2 long hands and the short hour hand).

[@michaeldolan9980]

Dear Natasha and Debbie, have been with you since your very first show. Only commented a few times. due to computer issues. just realised I can comment again. yipeee. want you both to know that you bring such joy to my life and I love you very much.happy new year and best wished from Dublin Ireland

[@gibson617ajg]

In Britain we drive on the correct side of the road. The left. This originated back in the time of horseback travel on early roads. Most people are right-handed and it was easier to draw your sword in times of peril and defend yourself from an adversary travelling towards you.

[@MariaFletcher-bf5pk]

Thank you Natasha and Debbie for a fantastic 2024. I've had a blast 👍 from 🇬🇧 cu in 2025. and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us all happy new year

[@michelletrudgill4573]

Ok that became easier to understand with pictures. Wow that was so interesting today thank you girlies. And now we need to know more about Chester Aurthur that would be interesting I'm going to look him up,. Again thank you for a great video today. ❤❤👏👏

[@TheNatashaDebbieShow]

Thank you 😊

[@SpaceMonkeyTCT]

Instead of saying "taking the piss", you could say "taking the mick" or "taking the mickey"

[@scubaboy8642]

Chester arthur family came from Scotland. So we gave him to you! Your welcome xx

[@StephenWhittaker-g5g]

One of the other reasons for using GMT as the zero is the International date line needed to go through as few countries as possible For example a 0 point in Washington DC would have the date line in the middle of Asia. You should note the time zones are not using Geodesic lines but going around some countries so some countries dont have a small bit in a different time zone

[@martynadams2011]

One of the best views of London is from Greenwich Park outside the Royal Observatory and includes the magnificent Maritime Museum which is worth a visit. You can actually straddle the zero line too.

[@andrewcoates6641]

Chester Arthur was the name of the school that was threatened with a bomb in the storyline of the film Die Hard 3 , Die Hard with a Vengeance.

[@willswomble7274]

Well if so it shows the full extent of your knowledge...

[@gibson617ajg]

I'm surprised that you made it to Die Hard 3. The first one was great........and that's about it. The bad guy HAD to be played by a Brit pretending to be a German 😁

[@mmckenzie8085]

Ladies I love your attitude. I also love reading the comments. So many knowledgable Brits giving out real information. It is nice to see. Apart from your own country it is educational for the UK itself but also other countries. This was an interesting one ❤

[@aethellstan]

the lines are actually straight and curved at the same time... the whole point for having greenwich mean time (zero degrees lattitude) is that we (and only we) can tell the french when to sit down for lunch.

[@peregreena9046]

Zero degrees latitude is the Equator, far away from Greenwich.

[@aethellstan]

@@peregreena9046 ok so i got them betwixt each other. i've changed so it so you're happy now...😀

[@alanheywood7258]

Opps 28th May would be 4pm British Summer Time equivalent to 3pm GMT

[@SNMG7664]

If you're measuring time based on the position of the sun, then yeah, it'll vary a bit based on where you are. Because two different sundials are not in the exact same place. Even sundials on opposite ends of the same town could be a little out if the town was big enough. We've separated things in to nice neat (for the most part) hour (ish) chunks now, but for most of history noon was just when the sun was overhead.

[@FayeSless-di3jg]

"Sideburns" is the more common term for "chops" in the UK.

[@SeaSaltandDriftwood]

I once had an American lady in a chat telling me she was very knowledgeable about time zones and that London was in a different time zone to the rest of the UK. Wow, for 69 years I've lived in the UK I didn't know this 🤣🤣🤣

[@RedSquirrelsReturn]

Now London isn’t even British

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

​@@RedSquirrelsReturn That's a discussion for another day.

[@paulvamos7319]

Another Chester is that blasted cheetah! 😂 Mmmm..... Cheddar/Jalapeno Cheetos! 🤤 Don't worry Natasha, that time difference thing was confusing to everyone back then too! 😅 And Natasha, straight as an arrow, leaning left! 🤣 Happy New Year to two lovely ladies from Oklahoma! 🎉

[@micheal1066]

Happy new year, love you two, ( Mike from England) oh the phrase "taking the piss", we use "taking the mickey" as a replacement.

[@ruthholbrook]

I once saw a programme on "Books that changed the World" and one of them was Bradshaw's train timetable and travel guide. It was the one the railways adopted and was the basis for standardising time in UK. Others included the Book of Common Prayer for standardising spelling and the Cricket rule book (Wisden I believe) as it sparked international games.

[@markhorton8578]

The British had developed an advanced railway system and already had a GMT time, combine this with the British dominating navigation and trading on the seas. It made sense to adopt what was already there.

[@isherwoody]

I remember reading Around The World in 80 Days as a child and they made it because he'd travelled east and gained a day which he didn't realise until he thought he'd failed. It completely confused my seven year old brain but Uncle Robin explained it to me. Yay for Uncle Robin!

[@digitalcareline]

Before Railways there was no need for cities to align on time - Each city would set their clocks from the sun at high noon giving you a multitude of different time zones. Catching a train would be a nightmare if you had to add or subtract local time from the timetable - from the chart - 12 Noon in Washington would be at 12.14 by Albany's clocks and even worse 11.18 in Chicago time - not a noticeable problem for someone riding a horse to Washington but a real head scratcher if you wanted to produce a national timetable for rail travel.

[@sigurdivar4227]

It's basically the same for sea navigation, it also starts with Britain, for mainly the same reasons.

[@geoffburns3540]

Oops - 4 minutes in and he makes a major error . . . N and S only go to 90°. A note on India. This seems to be an oddity, as it has a +5:30 time zone. Why? Because if you set your watch to GMT, then turn it upside down, the hands show Indian Mean Time (obviously ignoring the numbers on the face).

[@hamilton9479]

Local time was based on sunrise and sunset everywhere! Thus noon would be different depending on the location.

[@thejanner]

It's why we're the best and everyone works for us

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Oh dear, a US president we learned of back in Yr 5 in my school in England, is unknown to the people where he was president. Need any more be said about the US education system? 😅

[@mattstacyandthepomskies]

I was pretty stunned about that, given his importance to various things such as his links to Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, the expansion of the US Navy and so on, that he’s a ‘forgotten’ President in the USA. Very strange!

[@penname5766]

I think the different times in the different towns would’ve been measured according to the position of the sun - because although we standardise the time in what we designate a “zone”, it is an artificial construct, and the reality is that the sun will set at a slightly different time in each location according to its position east to west.

[@scotmark]

But especially according to its position north to south. Which is why the noon sun (high noon) is far more important,

[@jessebmansell7968]

Kiwi here, your country is so long that's why there was so many middays across it. I don't know many of your presidents but I do know Chester A Arthur 22nd president from NY. Thanks Die Hard 3 great movie!

[@robert-hh2ft]

should be an interesting one this,going back hundreds of years we did set up a lot of what is viewed as standard today around the globe.

[@IAMDonk]

There's a car park just outside the Grenwich Observatory which the meridian line passes through. Even then, that line, from pole to pole, local time is still not exactly GMT to the minute as Earth's orbit isn't circular. Local noon and GMT noon can be off as much as 16 minutes depending on the time of year. I know this because I live 8 minutes east of greewich and I'm a geek!

[@wanderingfool6312]

I lived in a town on the GMT line, although only found out when I stumbled upon the markings in the pavement, guess we take some things for granted. Anyway, happy new year.

[@peterbrazier7107]

When ones were set up because we had the Empire we got to have the Greenwich Meridian which upset the French, it has since been found out that it isn't in the proper location, by how much I don't know, (probably by inches).

[@peterbrazier7107]

ones should be zones

[@paulshirley6383]

American Couple Reacts: Why Britain Is The Centre of World? FIRST TIME REACTION! another ego stroking United Kingdom! This video is fascinating! We didn't know this stuff! Some of it …The Natasha & Debbie Show love louis shirley

[@uppyraptor49]

What he fails to mention is that the british had already standardised time in the UK in 1840 for train times using london as the centre time zone, so his story isn't entirely complete. This swayed a lot of the decision!😜So STANDARDISED time was started in the UK, we invented it🤣

[@juliankaye8143]

I thought the UK had already based their railway timetable to gmt before then? When the GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY set their railway clocks to the same unified time. So all the stations going west from London knew when trains were arriving and leaving.

[@MichaelCook-f8y]

The GWR did this by themselves and the rest of the UK followed. The international agreement to do it globally is what is going on here.

[@geoffburns3540]

Here in Bristol we still have a clock (on the St Nicholas Market building) with a third hand showing "Bristol time", 8 minutes behind "London time".

[@dcallan812]

I worked in east London for a while and the office had a huge brass plaque on the floor outside that was the GMT line. When it was the London Olympics they tore down the buildings and factory's. I don know if the plaque is still there> I doubt it survived.

[@jamielindsay1506]

It's amazing how much I don't know about my own country! But now I can show off my newfound knowledge to family and friends! Happy New Year, girls. Wishing you a wonderful 2025. See ya next year! ❤

[@peterselby3619]

It goes back to when the first clock to be accurate enough to allow the world to be divided into timezones (or longitude) was created by an English clockmaker. A master clock was situated at Greenwich and a gold ball was on a pole at the Greenwich Observatory from which all ships leaving port set its clock by. The ball was raised just before noon and when the ball dropped its was midday The first national universal time was in the UK, not the USA, and was due to the railways needing a standard timetable.

[@Rob_Infinity3]

9:59 - I'd heard of him because of the movie Die Hard With A Vengeance. Haha I know that he was the 21st President. 14:01 - Taking the Mickey 😉 18:16 - I remember flying over the international date line when I went to New Zealand and lost a whole day. So, i left the UK on a Monday and arrived in NZ on Wednesday. But it was still Tuesday in the UK. Haha

[@whitecompany18]

He might be telling YOU how to suck eggs on longitude and latitude but theres plenty of videos asking American teenagers where Europe is on the map... And they point to Canada or Africa 😂 hes just making sure we're on the same page /continent😃👍

[@davidberesford7009]

When it takes all day to travel to the next town, and there are no accurate clocks, it doesn't matter. But when you need to navigate the oceans you need good timekeeping and to set timetables for rail networks you need to agree on what the time is. Then it all becomes a little more important. Chester Arthur was new to me. Eight of the first nine Presidents were born before the United States existed. They were born in "British America" and were technically British subjects at birth. Keep Reacting!

[@scotmark]

Lots of interesting questions arise from that... For example, I'm assuming Obama could still have been president if he was a couple of years older (born in Hawaii before statehood). Or if Canada became the 51st state next year 😼, a 34-year old Canadian citizen would only have to wait until his next birthday to be eligible for US presidency, rather than having to wait 35 years like a newborn... 😸

[@fishtigua]

Hi girls. I'm in the Philippines at the moment. Yes, half the businesses have Briish roots, even my local mall is called Robinsons. Lots of those pesky Hong Kong boys came here too. #FishfromAntigua

[@jamesfisher1827]

The comment, “Britain was really good at the Oceans.” The truth is at that time the Royal Navy was kept at a size where it was more powerful than the next two biggest national navies combined. Hence why Britannia ruled the waves.

[@dazo69]

I saw the title and thought you was going to watch Al Murrays nations of the world. 🤣 Well worth a watch

[@Lloyd-Franklin]

Chester Arthur was the 21st President but technically he was the 35th President since there were 14 Presidents before Washington.

[@andybaker2456]

I'm surprised you didn't pick up on the small time differences from the Bristol video. It featured the pre-standardisation clock that simultaneously tells the time in both London and Bristol, with a ten minute difference between the two.

[@danielferguson3784]

Ladies. The reason everywhere had a different time because each place set it's time according to the sun, which was different in every place. So a time had to be set for all trains to follow. This all first happened in the UK, where the Railways were invented & first built. Britain had the greatest Empire in the world so had the greatest influence. So the time was set at the Greenwich Observatory, London. A Yorkshireman, John Harrison, had been the first to perfect an accurate clock for navigating at sea. The French objected of course, being constantly at war with Britain. The date line is a weird shape because of the way each place chose to be in one or the other time zone near to them. In the same way several time zone borders follow countries or State boundaries. Britain itself uses an hour time shift from GMT, going forward in March to British Summer Time, & returns to GMT in October each year. The easy way to remember this is by the mnemonic 'Spring forward Fall back', with Fall being, unusually for the UK, Autumn. The Conference was in Washington as the USA was neutral in the argument between Britain & France. As it was the French refused to concede to the British meridian etc, but in the end they had to, because all other important counties did.

[@ColinPalmer-q7t]

They Probably all set their clocks by sunrise. eg the first town set it for 6 am, the next town 50 miles west would get sunrise 20 minutes later (6:20 for first town ) and they would sit their clocks at 6 am then and so on and so on and so on as you move west

[@GaryNoone-jz3mq]

Natasha, the time of each town was based on when it was midday ( when the sun was it's highest) in the town. 😊

[@mattbentley9270]

Greenwich is a fab part of London, to get to the date line observatory its on a bad ass hill, Natasha no trand=sport up you have to walk worth it tho

[@wrs10]

Greenwich is not on the edge of London but half-way between the centre and the edge. Worth a river trip (how people got around before the railways) but easy by bus or train(s), even walking alongside the river if one is time rich.

[@Stand663]

Greenwich is where the Royal Navy started and where all it’s ships were built. Greenwich was once the centre of the maritime world. Many nations studied seamanship and navigation at the Greenwich Naval college.

[@frankdoyle9066]

Do you know Natasha?, watching this video was like me waiting for my Lillie's to open on a hot summer's day. And suddenly they burst into bloom!!!! Just like you when you finally got it. Great video. Thanks.

[@JohnCalElmAranMealor]

The mess around the international date line is because some of the longitudanal lines bisect small countrys that don't need two time zones just one so the time zone lines ar diverted around thier coast lines. ie why would you have half of Hawaiian islands in two time zones western islands 1 hr behind the eastern half?

[@sandrahughes8645]

I enjoyed that. Thanks Natasha and Debbie.. and Chester Arthur! 😉

[@grahamstubbs4962]

Greenwich is well worth a look if you're in London. The Old Royal Naval College and the National Maritime museum will give you an idea of the heft of the Royal Navy. The Cutty Sark, moored at Greenwich, is an 1860s clipper ship. She was built to get tea back to London as fast as possible for the best possible market price. You can see from the proportions that she was built for one thing only: speed.

[@Stewart682]

I remember flying from Osaka to Vancouver and landing before I took off!!

[@JJ-of1ir]

A neat trick that, Stewart682. Takes a lot of practise I'll bet!

[@user-Neil-c9u]

I am straight but i accept all, curvy, bent , twisted or loopy. I am watching this on Tuesday the 31st of January 2024, at 6.30pm GMT. Luton, England.

[@Brian3989]

The original zero line of longitude was defined at the Greenwich Observatory in the east of London. In recent time measurements say the original line is wrong by several yards/metres.

[@russelltaylor7779]

The trouble with the depiction of the modern map is because of Mercators projection. It distorts the size of the continents and countries giving an unrealistic size. America appears larger than it actually is.