The Speaking Clock - Objectivity 152

[@APArchive]

This is just wonderful! Thanks for bringing our British Movietone footage to life in your usual BRILLIANT way Brady!

[@EleetCanoe]

Wow, the AP commented on this

[@ObjectivityVideos]

How cool is that archive footage?! :)

[@UpcycleElectronics]

Just imagine how a recording like this will age with time. I think recordings will become a historical cornerstone. People will view prerecording history like we view pre-handwriting societies. Who knows, perhaps in a thousand years or more people will reference Brady Haran the great ancient historian and documentarian. I think video footage will connect with people far more than the written word in the long run. -Jake

[@911gpd]

Great :D

[@WilliamLeeSims]

I love all of the engineering that went into this device. You can tell that this meant a lot to somebody.

[@simontay4851]

Yeah, that's built properly.

[@crashmancer]

As an engineer I am really impressed with how they squeezed precision from messy, imprecise mechanical processes.

[@baronDioxid]

From Jane Cain's Wiki page: "Originally the speaking clock was accessed by dialling 846, spelling out the letters *T-I-M* "

[@PastPresented]

It's odd to think that we have in a sense regressed. In ye olden days, phone dials always used to be marked with both numbers and letters, because exchange codes were based on the actual name of the exchange; then we went fully digital and the letters disappeared, only to return when phones started to have screens and other facilities.

[@AxcelleratorT]

Maybe Jane Cain was the very first Tim!

[@Xatzimi]

Putting aside Tim meddling, it probably is meant to spell out "time" in 3 digits

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Only in director areas (initially 5 cities I believe?)

[@KelseyThornton]

I remember it being 80, and later 8081...

[@EnricoBalducci]

I don't know how I missed this video until now. Wonderful stuff Brady!

[@TheNefari]

Horology ... never gets old :D

[@Shadow81989]

You did not just.... oh dear! Time to stop! :-D

[@Rubrickety]

My grandfather tried to ask Ethel Cain out on a date, but she wouldn't even give him the time of day.

[@MrHeroicDemon]

That punch line knocked the clock outta me and made time fly to times that were better.

[@natheniel]

Enthusiastic horologist: **explains fascinating stuffs about how the clock self-correct and ensure the highest accuracy** Brady: **I wanna listen to the lady's voice**

[@MonarchsFactory]

My brain feels so full of new knowledge!

[@xyanide1986]

That's a breathtaking display of analog electronics in a well regulated feedback loop. Awesome.

[@stuartthegrant]

What wonderful engineers they had in the GPO back in the 1930s. And again in the 1950s. Don't you just love the "Car Radio" as a last resort! Outstanding episode.

[@CybranM]

Another great episode with an interesting story

[@gazzaboo8461]

I called the speaking clock on a number of occasions when I was away from radios (they announced the time frequently) or if you needed better accuracy if your watch lost or gained time.

[@SlyPearTree]

I absolutely love the way the first one looks like it was partly designed and partly hacked together. The car radio in the second one also looks like a hack. That's a compliment in electronic parlance by the way.

[@ragnkja]

SlyPearTree To listen for the GTS (also known as the “pips”), as broadcast on BBC Radio.

[@sahajamatya]

Thanks for another great video Brady!

[@ThePoxun]

Not sure if it is the actual pair to this one but there is a "No. 2" currently on (non functional) display in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

[@paulkingtiger]

I love old electro-mechanical stuff! They have one of the first model machines in the London Science Museum (or they did last time I was there). Well worth a look, it has a button you press to activate it.

[@crashmancer]

Building these things was a novelty and a feat 80 years ago, and now we hardly think twice about how the same purpose is served today by putting a few dozen atomic clocks in orbit and a digital radio in everyone's pocket.

[@Cadwaladr]

Well, if it saves me having to talk to a policeman, I'm all for it.

[@jb03hf]

Two different videos on the clock use this tagline of "don't need to ask a policeman" so I guess this was a common trope. I would assume that the London Bobby would have an accurate watch on him though.

[@artswri]

Fantastic episode! They are all fascinating devices. The first version is a classic of the 'modern machine age' with its endless movement, gears, and... Optical disks. Amazing!! It would be great fun to create a mini replica clock that would announce the time. Makers, you listening?

[@esdisaysaloha]

Can't believe Brady's still not an official Slow Watch brand ambassador, with all these clock-related videos.

[@bobdefalco]

This is absolutely brilliant

[@AxcelleratorT]

Great video! I like that you included a lot of detail of the mechanics that operate that clock.

[@kylep7503]

These are my favorite of your videos Brady good work

[@yizharamir5915]

Please more horological videos! Thank you Brady.

[@PinkChucky15]

This is the first I’m hearing about speaking clocks. It’s very cool!

[@b1aflatoxin]

I'll never forget the phone number of our local speaking clock. It was put up by a regional bank and was certainly computerized (1980's). It gave both time and temperature, later on they ended the call with a little spot plugging the banks services. It was a sad day when it ended. :)

[@macronencer]

This is a wonderful video. Thank you! Who remembers dial-a-disc? I never used it myself, couldn't see the point - but I remember it being available.

[@TheOpticalFreak]

At the first stroke... Such a legendary sentence! ☺️😉

[@PopeLando]

This video appeared with perfect timing (ha!) since about an hour ago I re-synchronised my radio-controlled watch. I love everything to do with clocks, mechanical, quartz and atomic, and the accurate measurement of time. So much so that I have memorised all the constants and measurements that led to what we think of today as "the correct time" : 129,602,768.13; 31,556,925.9747; 9,192,631,770.

[@OverUnity7734]

I would like to rip an .mp3 from those glass discs to use in my own talking clock.

[@ShiltoCrarpo]

Very excellent film.

[@nicholashylton6857]

Great video. I would love to hear those other voices.

[@TheSkytherMod]

Honestly though shes one beautiful woman.

[@jimjohn2652]

She's gorgeous! I really love how women used to dress and do their hairs in that time.

[@outshimed]

Ol' Ethel was a stunner

[@RhysOlwyn]

A few years ago it was briefly voiced by Tom Baker, everyone's favourite Timelord

[@menzelkauliz8571]

i really like the steampunky look of the old clock.

[@sion8]

I wouldn't call that Steampunk, it's closer to Dieselpunk.

[@-yeme-]

you can still have a speaking clock from UK landlines the number is 123

[@yatint9665]

Simply awesome

[@Locutus]

Ethal Kane woukd be a complete stunner no matter which century she was born in!

[@patricksanders858]

In the US in the 70s I remember it as .... "At the tone the time will be...xxxx beep" We dialed 1800POP-CORN, so since it was free, we called it for fun.

[@jeremiahkennedy1683]

I'm impressed.

[@bikejoede]

Awesome!

[@felineboy]

By any chance, is that the same voice we hear at the end of "Pulsar" by Vangelis?

[@chigginheadD]

I wanted to hear the other voices

[@lzeph]

Me too.

[@szymongorczynski7621]

Call 123 to hear the current one.

[@JustinZymbaluk]

How did they do the phone line switching?

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

I have never learned till now of this 'speaking clock'. Thank you for making my schema of yesteryear more accurate... Talk to a policemen indeed.

[@Petertronic]

I remember dialling 8081 for the speaking clock, to set my watch

[@Derkman96]

Did the second clock use those short wave radio time stations or literally just any local station that said what time it was?

[@nrdesign1991]

probably it was used by an operator to listen for the hourly news. That's why they begin with the three or four beeps, to mark the exact hour.

[@PastPresented]

The BBC's "six pips" system actually predates the Speaking Clock en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal

[@locouk]

At the third tweet, the time will be precisely 1 minute till midnight..

[@gnikola2013]

0:30 This guy here looks like he's about to steal the De'Lorean and travel back to 1955 to give his past-self an almanaque with the results of all the sport events till the 2000's

[@geetarwanabe]

I remember hearing that woman on the phone (I'm 28). I wonder when they stopped it.

[@jamesc7827]

Isn't there a number you can still call?

[@tncorgi92]

Some people have called 911 to ask the time. Seriously.

[@mojosbigsticks]

I bunked off school just to hear the Speaking Clock change over to a male voice. It was a big thing at the time.

[@WiggysanWiggysan]

Great history lesson ......... I never knew the lady was beautiful.

[@Xatzimi]

Hey wait, this is the voice sampled on Roger Waters's "Is This The Life We Really Want?"

[@LJdaentertainer]

I feel like this channel would get a lot more views if Brady would take that damn white glove out of the video thumbnails.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

oh its the nuke from Goldfinger.

[@AlonsoRules]

imagine manning the phones to tell random people the time - easiest job ever

[@SteveGouldinSpain]

Did she get a royality for each time her voice was replayed? Should have been a nice little earner!

[@sean..L]

The Siri of its time.

[@robinw77]

Except more accurate and reliable

[@sean..L]

Robin Williams ayy

[@jca111]

The thumbnail indicated it has WiFi!

[@JustOneAsbesto]

Wait... So people had telephones that they'd use to to call and ask for the time... but they didn't have clocks? I'd have thought that *everyone* would have had a clock or watch by the time telephones were common.

[@MartinSStoller]

The issue was more that mechanical (and even early crystal) clocks tend to lose precision over time - or if you forgot to wind them up, then of course game over. I used to call the speaking clock often, to make sure my watches and clocks were set right. Sigh, I feel old...

[@arcanics1971]

Well, if you have a mechanical clock you know that it won't ever be perfectly accurate and will lose accuracy as time goes on. How do you reset it? Using another clock? You can see a problem. Also, long before telephones were common we did have call boxes and businesses with telephones. It could be incredibly useful if you are unsure of the time to know that you could find a public telephone and find out. Even digital clocks were not always reliable for keeping time, especially in an age where power cuts were not uncommon and battery powered devices were less common. And even if you never had a power cut, you had to initially set the time and the speaking clock was likely more accurate than your pocket watch. It was a very good, sensible question, I hope I have been some help in answering it.

[@JustOneAsbesto]

Oh right, of course. Thanks.

[@RolandHutchinson]

An interesting footnote: electric clocks derived their time from the frequency of the electrical grid (for example, 50 Hz in the UK, 60 Hz in the USA). Of course they didn't do this by digitally counting the cycles; rather, they used a synchronous motor to move the clock hands (or, later, the digital display mechanism). As mentioned in the video, this isn't good enough for to-the-second accuracy -- because the frequency could vary with greater or lesser demand for electricity throughout the day. However, the electrical utility companies would undertake to manipulate the frequency so that over the period of an entire day, the correct number of cycles would happen as if it had been precisely 50 Hz (or 60 Hz) all day long. Thus, although an electrical clock might have drifted slightly fast or slow at any given time, over the long term -- unless there had been a power outage -- the clock would keep good time and not need to be reset. I remember electric clocks that had a little indicator on the dial that would show if there had been a power outage, so you would know that it was time to dial 555-1212 and reset the clock.

[@octcube_]

Siri's older sister!

[@Gribbo9999]

What strange "posh" accents they had in the 1930s.

[@mina86]

Vangelis anyone? Really? No one?

[@yokatipunero]

Meh. Hey, Siri, what time is it?

[@MartinSStoller]

And Siri answered: "This is what I found on the internet about thyme..." Sigh.

[@hirakmondal6174]

Man I can't understand his f*cking words...

[@bloergk]

Why is Adolf Hitler auditioning clock voice ladies

[@JustOneAsbesto]

Uhhhh... I'm pretty sure sending the time around the country via stagecoach and written letters wouldn't actually work.

[@TheSkytherMod]

Last

[@ulriksteenandersen4215]

not anymore

[@aimanzidani6478]

Replace the host.