London Zoo Clock

The clock stands outside the aviary in London Zoo. Every half hour the clock 'strikes' and it comes to life putting on quite show as little metal birds appear and disappear, some flying in circles around the clock. When I arrived at the clock there was already a crowd of people waiting for the 'show'. All the movement in the clock is controlled by pneumatics. The clock was built and designed by Tim Hunkin.

London Zoo Clock, by Tim Hunkin, 2008

Clock outside the aviary at London Zoo (located in the north section of Regents Park)

Behind the clock.
The photo is a bit dark but note the green bird (with cable attached) to the left in the photo.

The little blue bird popped out of the hat and then later went back into it

Toucan pecking the pendulum to keep it moving.

More information: http://www.timhunkin.com/a136_zoo-clock.htm

Globe Sundial: London Zoo

Here's some photo's I took earlier today in London Zoo showing the Globe Sundial designed by Wendy Taylor in 1989:

"This Globe Sundial shows in miniature how the Earth is bathed in sunlight. Time is indicated by the fin which casts the least shadow. The combination of the tilt of the earth's axis and the varying speed of its progress on an elliptical path around the sun causes a difference between the time shown and mean time of up to 16 minutes. The greatest differences occur in February and October."

Shepherd Gate Clock - Greenwich

The Shepherd Gate Clock is located on the outside-wall of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, UK. It is a 24 hour electric clock and was probably the first clock to show Greenwich Mean Time to the public. The clock is known as a slave clock, displaying the time from the master clock inside the observatory. Signals are received from the master clock as electrical impulses.

View from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich

Shepherd Gate Clock - displaying GMT time

The time on the clock was 16:45 (GMT time), but the time on my watch was 17:45 (BST - British Summer Time). Talking about BST, the clocks will go back the GMT time on Sunday 30th October.

Charles Shepherd installed the clock in 1852

PS Greenwich Park (visible in the first photo) will be used for the London 2012 Olympic Equestrian events.

Saint Mary and Saint Eanswythe, Folkstone

Saint Mary and Saint Eanswythe Church is located in Folkstone, Kent. King Eadbald of Kent founded the Folkstone priory in 630AD for his daughter Eanswythe and her nuns.

Saint Mary and Saint Eanswythe Church.

It is believed that the remains of Eanswythe were buried here. She was later canonised as Saint Eanswythe.

Hammersmith Clocks

I took the following photos while walking through the town centre of Hammersmith this afternoon:

Hammersmith Station

Hammersmith Station Clock


Broadway Shopping Centre


Broadway Shopping Centre Clock


St Paul's Church


St Paul's Church Clock

Inside Hammersmith Bus station

Hammersmith Bus station clock

Bus Stop

Bus stop clock

Can you spot the clock above Belushi's Bar (28 Hammersmith Broadway)?

Clock above Belushi's Bar

As I was walking past St Paul's church an elderly lady grabbed my arm and asked 'are you going straight?'. I responded 'yes' as politely as a I could wondering where her ambiguous question was leading. She then said to me 'you must go straight home and have a shave'. Okay I was sporting my 'designer stubble' look so I guess I see her point. Then she said 'have a glass of water, have some food, read some versus from the bible and go to bed.' Sound advice I suppose ;)

Blythe House, Hammersmith

Blythe House, in Hammersmith (West London), is the old headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank. Now it is used as an archive by the Victoria and Albert museum. The building is grade II listed and was completed in 1903.

Blythe House Clock

23 Blythe Road, Hammersmith, London W14 0QX

Blythe House is located very close to Kensington Olympia train station.

The archive consists of the following 4 units:

• the Archive of Art and Design
• the Beatrix Potter Collections
• the V&A Archive
• the V&A Theatre and Performance Archive

More information: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/