London calling .Sir it was not just the Royal Navy that helped, the British who invented a clock that worked on ships we also invented trains and the rail way lines .This young man has put an American twist on this .
You needed the clock to tell you the time in London, you would then compare noon in your location to noon in Greenwich, knowing this difference tells you the position east or West.
@@neuralwarpAnd he got shafted for his efforts, just like Tommy Flowers for building the first computer. They never take the boot off the working class' head.
The issue of local time was sorted out way before this in the UK. Standardised railway time was first applied by the Great Western Railway in England in November 1840. The clock on the Exchange building in Bristol still has two minute hands, one for London time (GMT) and one for Bristol time (GMT minus 11 minutes).
The concept of timetabling came from Brunel's Great Western Railway and the need for "railway time" and "local time" when traveling E->W (or vice versa) at anything above horseback pace. This guy's view of world history is "interesting" to say the least. 👍
Yeah, its views are interesting indeed. Personaly i would not mind its cinical remarks since i believe that they are deserved. The problem is that he always aim his negativity at the same group. He never mentions the other groups that have a past as "human" (?) as the one victim that jonnhy boy likes so much to pound on.
I think that Greenwich was chosen as the main Meridian because it was a British man who created Longtitude allowing ships to safely sail with ships navigators knowing exactly where they were on the ocean. A Mr Harrison was his name.
Harrison invented a watch accurate enough to use when calculating a ship's longitude (East-West position). This invention was the subject of a Royal competition, and also allowed map-makers to accurately say stuff like 'X town is p degrees East (or West) of Y city.
There's a fantastic two-part UK drama about this called "Longitude". Long before the trend of having one or two headline names in the cast to pull in an audience, then fill the other roles with unknowns, this is jam packed with everyone who was anyone back in the day, with the lesser roles played by people who went on to be stars in their own right within a few years. It's around 200 minutes long in total, and well worth watching if you're interested in that sort of thing and you can track it down.
@@Stuffed_Cat Yes, I have seen it, when it was broadcast decades ago when the BBC did good drama. The program showed Harrisons exasperation and the stupidity of his 'opposition'. Very highly recommend it as you say.
Greenwich meridian was established in 1852. By the time of the International Meridian Conference of 1884 in Washington DC two thirds of all shipping was already using the Greenwich Meridian
I wouldn't call Greenwich an "outskirt" of London. It's only 8 miles from the central Trafalgar Square, well within the metropolis. It's 3 miles inside the "north/south circular" suburban ring-road, and about 12 miles inside the M25 motorway that roughly encircles Greater London.
Britain decided that Greenwich was the centre of the world, because it invented the method to accurately measure longitude, by accurately creating the first clock that could travel on board a ship. If you know the time at Greenwich and you know the time locally, you can work out your longitude compared to London. Harrison created the first accurate clock that could travel on a ship. Technically called the Harrison IV chronometer. Parliament created a competition to create an accurate clock. Harrison won, but Parliament didn't pay out. The Harrison IV is missing to history, but if you go to Greenwich you can see the Harrison I II and III.
You not knowing who Chester Arthur was is funny, because when I (a Brit) heard that name I was reminded of the 3rd Die Hard movie, and there was reference to him as a clue to where the bomb in a school was... I wish my brain would remember useful things...
While it is true that Greenwich was chosen as the meridian because of Britain’s pre-eminence in a number of spheres, the other reason was where to put the international date line. If the Meridian was in Washington DC it would have cut East Asia in half, which was a non flyer. Putting it down the Bearing Strait and across the Pacific never crossing a land mass was the obvious choice. This then put the Meridian in Western Europe and Africa. The only practical contenders were London and Paris.
The empire is very much still alive... it's just called the commonwealth now and the empire lurks in the shadows.😂 It's why the king still awards the MBE which stands for member of the British Empire. Also the British invented over 60% of everything we use today
It's really not though. Even the overseas territories are entirely self governing apart from defence & foreign relations. The empire has been dead for decades now.
@@stetrainer578The Commonwealth rules over none of its constituent countries. It is a club which a country can join or leave at will. Empires are something completely different. There are 15 realms which share the same constitutional monarch as their ceremonial head of state: those countries happen all to be members of the Commonwealth which is why they are referred to as "Commonwealth Realms". The many other Commonwealth countries have their own heads of state, be they ceremonial or weilding sovereign executive power. The King of the UK plays no role in any of those. The most recently admitted countries to the Commonwealth were never part of the British Empire (e.g. Gabon, Togo, Rwanda). The current head of the Commonwealth is the King of the UK but (a) the position is *not* hereditary and (b) the Commonwealth can choose anyone from any Commonwealth nation as its head and (c) the position is purely ceremonial. The chief executive of the Commonwealth of Nations is the Secretary-General who is on charge of the Commonwealth Secretariat which runs the organisation. Until the current Secretary-General, Baroness Scotland, who has dual citizenship (Dominica and UK), there had never been a Secretary-General from the UK. A Commonwealth which was the British Empire Mark II could not exist: India would have left when it became a republic in 1950, many or most countries would have declined to join on gaining independence and the nations which have joined in recent decades with no previous connection to Britain would not have done so. The Kingdoms of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and the 10 other Commonwealth realms do not consider themselves part of a British Empire, in just the same way as Hanover before 1837 did not consider itself part of the British Empire and Scotland before 1707 did not consider itself part of an English Empire.
@@geoffas over land that the company didnt own, hence the parliamentary act. Previous rail/tramways/ (inc wooden railed ones) had been , certainly in england, effectively on the landowners land , or by some kind of mutual agreement ( thinking of the NE collieries short distance to the tyne
@@highpath4776 Yep, You could build whatever on your own land, but to traverse other peoples' land you had to get a 'right of way' and pay rent to the landowner(s).
John Harrison invented the first seagoing chronometer in 1728, long before the 1800's. He based his time as zero from Greenwich. The Royal Navy found it's way around the world, & colonised / occupied these lands well before the 1800's, because of Harrison's sea going Chronometer. His chronometer also helped the first national & international flights, 1900''s +, find their way around the world. GMT also explains why France, & it's neighbours, colonies, & US, moved to left hand drive cars, France wanted 0 degrees Latitude to go through Paris, Not London.....little naggling neighbours ! Who'd have them .......????
One of the other reasons was that the best ocean 19:50 navigation charts of that era were produced the the Hydrographer of the (Royal) Navy. Thus most ships were using British charts centred on Greenwich. It was easier to say "you know what we'll just centre Zero Longitude on Greenwich as that will be cheaper!"
@@highpath4776 The french are so nutty about trying to be in charge, and the metric system, they wanted to change clocks as well lol. 1793, the French smashed the old clock system in favor of French Revolutionary Time, which was a 10-hour day, with 100 minutes per hour, and 100 seconds per minute. .....goofs :)
When you go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, you can stand on the Meridian Line from which all world time is calculated. BTW, it's not called "The British Navy", it's The Royal Navy 🇬🇧🫡🇬🇧
Finally, JJ, I must say that you FEEL a lot more centrally placed here. I've lived overseas, but here it takes roughly the same amount of time to get anywhere east or west. Of-course I'm not including Europe in this (as this is our back yard). From the Americas, everywhere requires a long journey. Perhaps our Plymouth bretherin didn't think about this before they rushed over to discover pastures new.! I think the majority never saw their homeland again.!!
When you come over, take the Uber fast ferry down to Grernwich. The entire area is one huge historic ex naval academy. Of-course, these days, lots of the buildings are now coffee bars, and colleges of all kinds, including music. A small part may still be associated with maritime affairs, but these days - if I'm taking visitor friends to visit historical naval ports, I would take them to somewhere like Portsmouth - the modern day home of naval academic activity (90 mins from London).
Can't believe he went to the trouble of making the video, with all the animation and what not, and he didn't realise that the north pole is 90 Deg north, not 180! And vice versa for south. 😂
I have seen no Die Hard films, but I have known of Chester Alan Arthur since I received an encyclopaedia as a gift for Christmas 1956 when I was eight and over a year or two the names of each POTUS stuck in my mind forever, initially up to the current one, Eisenhower. It has been no strain to remember the subsequent ones. Being British this ability has been of zero use to me! I was amused that in an episode of ‘The Phil Silvers Show’ being shown over here in the late 1950s (I became then and remain an avid viewer) Ernie Bilko is selling tickets to for a ‘celebration’ dance in honour/honor of an act passed under the presidency of this man.
Don't just pick on Americans has a radio amateur we log all times using GMT so when we send a message we always use and ignore British Summer time, getting some of my students to grasp this was a nightmare nightmare.
The number 1 Reason why Greenwich was chosen, was because it put the international date line through the Pacific. Thereby putting the change of the date in the least disruptive part of the world. When it is noon in Greenwich London, it is for that brief moment the same day thought the world. While it is true the mishmash of the date line is wiered, putting the date line through the Atlantic between Africa and South America would have at mid day put Europe and America on different days of the week. We would only be on the same week day for an instant at midnight.
The reason was because the fifth Royal Astronomer, Nevil Maskelyne, who in 1767 introduced the Nautical Almanac as part of the Great 18th Century quest to determine longitude. These were tables of "Lunar Distance", data based on observations at Greenwich and using GMT as the time standard. This data enabled navigators to find their position at sea.
On May 28th at 12.00 Greenwich meantime, London would actually be at 1.00 pm as we put the clocks forward at the end of March to British Summer Time. We only use GMT in winter.
There is also a map men video about timezones that I think you haven't watched yet! Keep up the good work! 🤗 Edit: the map men video is called "The world's silliest timezones".
We sorted railway time long before this, if you look closely at some old rail station clocks - they have two minute hands. We also invented the first chronometer capable of keeping good time on a ship thus enabling good navigation. I think it was John Harrison with the H3. We had more good quality maps than other countries because of the Royal Navy. Latterly, we also invented the atomic clock at NPL. This is required for UTC (coordinated at the metrology place in Paris) and for GPS.
Kind of felt the whole "Countries didn't really trade or cooperate before the 1800s" was a bit silly, Silk Road has been around a tiny bit longer than that and most of the wars the pictures he used were exactly because of large alliances and control of trade.
Re: Greenwich... the hill there was chosen for the Royal (astronomical) Observatory, where scientists did a lot of the research into the motion of the planets, inc this one. So had a good insight into "time". BUT it could be seen from the Naval docks on the Thames. So to set ship's clocks, everyday to this day, at 1pm a ball on a pole is dropped marking the hour. Given Britain's dominance of the oceans, it's no wonder Greenwich was chosen. And it's a little vice versa, too
The Royal Navy, young man. If enough of us say it, you may remember? Still the best on an individual basis. BTW, we have a brass marker in the centre of my village near Cambridge, which indicates the line of the Grenwich Meridian. (Do not pronounce the "W" in Grenwich)
Hi, Greenwich used to be Kent along with Lewisham next door, so was not even considered Greater London till 1965. I lived there and in other areas of London which were still Surrey till 1965 too.
I read somewhere that the guy doing this commentary is anti British. That is why he probably did not tell you that the British gave the world trains and at the time Britain was the most important country on earth.
@@geoffas I know that the Yanks are not taught much about the world, particularly history but I believe that this commentator IS anti British. Apart from the fact that I read it, you can tell by the way he talks not giving the British the credit for anything.
You can go and stand on the Greenwich Meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Earth spins counter clockwise when viewed from the North Pole, which is why you go back in time when you travel West until you reach the International Date Line. As Al Murray the Pub Landlord explained, " the International Date Line is where middle aged men can meet and marry ladies from the Philippines"....😀
Growing up near Greenwich, I've always found it so helpful when travelling that everywhere is my time +/-. Must be a lot more difficult if you're in, for example, GMT-3 and travelling to GMT+2 and trying to calculate the current time based off you're own. Or is that not a problem? Certainly less a problem these days now our phones can automatically change to local time I guess.
I'm hoping you wouldn't need clocks to stop the trains hitting each other - properly operated signals do that. But you need clocks to stop the trains block each other's ways.
What Johnny didn’t mention is that the international date line has implications if it splits close trading partners, as a 23 hour gap can effect things like stock markets and travel. It being in the pacific effects the least amount of people in this way, so the prime meridian being in the UK makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it is about old white men getting their own way, but not always.
There was a time period where, by law, the royal navy had to be able to beat the next 2 naval powers combined, this was changed going up to ww1 that britain had to be able to beat germany's navy.
The.USA had already chosen Greenwich as the basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian. The decision was based on the argument that by naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º, it would be advantageous to the largest number of people. Therefore the Prime Meridian at Greenwich became the centre of world time.
It's confusing how people have started to use "1800s" instead of '19th Century', 1800s was reserved for 1800 to 1819., followed by the 1820s, 1830s etc. when people say 1800s now I'm never sure when it is that they are referring to.?? Obviously (?) the date line is in the middle of the ocean so that it is where there are fewest people? But the time doesn't jump, only the date. Shocked of the UK.
1800s can also refer to: The century from 1800 to 1899, so any year beginning with 18+ or the '1800s', or 1600s, 1700s, etc., etc. I personally use 19th century, 18th century, etc., but it doesn't really matter.
It helps the Yanks in their total confusion! Also very confusing for many, even here, is that the centuries run from 01 to 00. Therefore, the nineteenth century runs from 1st January 1801 and ended on 31st December 1900. Unfortunately it's becoming standard practice to do it the wrong way here too!
Johnny has incorrectly marked 2 time zones as 4AM. Only one time zone is 4AM with the date line passing through the middle. He also got the 5AM zone incorrect.
Harrison designed chronometers that would be accurate in the moving environment of the sea. Pendulum driven clocks wouldn't work in such an unstable environment. Establishing latitude was relatively easy with a sextant. But establishing local noon with an inaccurate clock was a nightmare. His inventions led to accurate navigation.
Bristol, England still has a clock with a Bristol Time hand on it Chester A Arthur is the answer to a question in Die Hard With A Vengeance movies (with Samuel L Jackson and Jeremy Irons)
The Royal Navy was already based in Greenwich from the reign of believe or not Henry VIII. Yes him with the 6 wives. His royal palace was also located there in Greenwich. Further down the road in Deptford, Royal Navy ships were built there. There was also industry that served the shipping industry, such as mapmakers, navigation instrument makers, cartographers etc . The British already used Greenwich as a means to measure time long before the US was a country.
Always wanted to celebrate new year on the International Date Line, and/or chase New Year’s Eve around the world and celebrate as many as possible - albeit all on a plane
British Navy is still very great. We have Trident (UK nuclear programme) which is nuclear missile-armed or ballistic missile Vanguard-class submarines. In short Britain can nuke anything, anywhere at any time. Quite scary if you think about it.
To your point 5:35 most railways in Britain had two tracks so trains going in opposite directions would never meet. Then in the 80s (maybe? Someone will correct that) the ‘innovation’ of single track working was introduced. But, still, most uk permanent ways have two tracks. I am very interesting
So if 9-11 happened at 9am in NYC it actually happened on 09-12 in parts of the world, and of course, if you use the international date format it happened on 12-09. So they could call the event 12-09 instead of 9-11 if they wanted to. Not sure why I thought like writing that, but it was kind of interesting, although pointless. It's 3am.
I had a heart attack emergency ambulance to Hospital, Major Surgery 3 weeks in Hospital followed by 2 months Rehabilitation at the hospitals outpatients unit. Total cost directly NIL but I have paid tax either directly or indirectly for many year's and still pay tax on my occupational pension. But its brillant compared to the USA.
The concept of the International Date Line is often a little hard to think clearly about. None more so than when considering this hypothetical situation: If a pregnant woman is travelling onboard a ship on the 1st March, (in a non-Leap year,) as the ship travels East over the International Date Line, and she then starts to give birth to twins... If she gives birth to the first of the twins on the 1st of March on the Western side of the date line, then that baby's birthday would be March 1st... If the ship then crosses the date line, and she gives birth to the second twin on the Eastern side of the date line, where it's still February 28th, then the second, YOUNGER twin's birthday would be February 28th... So, in later years, the twins would have different birthdays: the older one celebrating a birthday on March 1st, and the younger one celebrating a birthday on February 28th, (before his/her older sibling?!!) And in a leap year, the YOUNGER sibling would celebrate his/her birthday TWO DAYS BEFORE his/her elder brother or sister! !!! My brain hurts thinking of this !!!
I used to know 2 twins that were born either side of midnight on 31st Dec 1979 & 1st Jan 1980, so literally born in different decades. Theoretically this may well have happened somewhere around the world for the year 2000, and have twins born in different millenia.
Arbitrary meridians: yes. Try a comic album of Tintin, called 'the Secret of the Unicorn', where the old Paris-based meridian treasure map means they are looking for an island in the wrong place, as modern charts use the Greenwich meridian.
Technically if you think about it, the british navy is still the best because Us is predominantly still made of people who hailed from britain. Of course other cultures and countries too but us navy is kind of the son of the British navy.
Happy birthday for tomorrow! (I am in GMT+7, so it's the morning of the 22nd right now). Also - the video didn't mention that the British Empire at its height encompassed around 22% of the world's landmass, and around 22% of its population. It also didn't mention that if the prime meridian were further east of west, then the landmasses of Far Eastern Russia and Far Western Alaska would end up being in the same time zones, and it makes GOOD sense to have the international date line in the middle of the largest ocean with very little land in it. And preferably separating Alaska and Siberia. So there are good geographical reasons for that too - although the same would be possible with Paris as the prime meridian! Also, finally, DO go to visit the Greenwich observatory and the Royal Naval Museum (at the same site - or a very short walk from each other). It's a wonderful place to visit, with some great naval history going back centuries.
When it's 1:30 a.m. in California, it's 5:30 p.m. here in Western Australia. I guess that why you get Americans asking why we didn't warn them about 9/11. (i.e. 11/9) 💁
London calling .Sir it was not just the Royal Navy that helped, the British who invented a clock that worked on ships we also invented trains and the rail way lines .This young man has put an American twist on this .
Britain is the centre of the world because we say so 😂🇬🇧
Of course we are, I thought everybody knew that. DOH
In the middle,at the top..
Surely you are aware theres a show called little Britain 😆
Britain by longitude & latitude is coincidentally located at the centre of the world.
WE WERE GODS! 🤣
It's the Royal Navy, dear boy.
The British invented the first accurate clock that would work onboard a ship. which you needed find how far East or west you are.
Harrison I .. IV chronometer.
You needed the clock to tell you the time in London, you would then compare noon in your location to noon in Greenwich, knowing this difference tells you the position east or West.
One of which made them rich on only fools and horses😊
@@davehoward22😅😅😅
@@neuralwarpAnd he got shafted for his efforts, just like Tommy Flowers for building the first computer. They never take the boot off the working class' head.
Crossing that International date line can screw with your head. I flew from Fiji to Los Angeles and arrived before i'd left.
The issue of local time was sorted out way before this in the UK. Standardised railway time was first applied by the Great Western Railway in England in November 1840. The clock on the Exchange building in Bristol still has two minute hands, one for London time (GMT) and one for Bristol time (GMT minus 11 minutes).
Also known as God's Wonderful railway
The concept of timetabling came from Brunel's Great Western Railway and the need for "railway time" and "local time" when traveling E->W (or vice versa) at anything above horseback pace.
This guy's view of world history is "interesting" to say the least.
👍
The last sentence is possibly too subtle for many, to the west of us?
Yeah, its views are interesting indeed. Personaly i would not mind its cinical remarks since i believe that they are deserved. The problem is that he always aim his negativity at the same group. He never mentions the other groups that have a past as "human" (?) as the one victim that jonnhy boy likes so much to pound on.
Some Americans still believe that they invented most of the innovations that were actually British e.g. television ;-)
Greenwich is also the home of the Royal Naval College, which houses a naval museum.
"was" - it's been in Dartmouth for 25 years.
@@Ibis117 Sorry, I should have written was, twere a slip of the keystroke!
You need to react to British stand up comedian Al Murray. His take on history is absolutely superb!
"And WE tell the Germans what time they sit down ,for their lunch"
"we invented work"!
It's not the British Navy it's the Royal Navy!
I promise you it really doesn't matter that much 😂
Royal Navy is the military, British navy would be more the commercial fleet, British registered ships engaged in commerce and trade
@@keefbeef2002Yes, known as the Merhcant Marine some years ago.
I was born and live in Greenwich and i can tell you its not an outskirt of London.
Greenwich is in Outer London.
It was when it was built, now it's just part of Greater London. Me I live on the other side of London, in the North West. ❤
I think that Greenwich was chosen as the main Meridian because it was a British man who created Longtitude allowing ships to safely sail with ships navigators knowing exactly where they were on the ocean. A Mr Harrison was his name.
Harrison invented a watch accurate enough to use when calculating a ship's longitude (East-West position). This invention was the subject of a Royal competition, and also allowed map-makers to accurately say stuff like 'X town is p degrees East (or West) of Y city.
Plus at this time the British Empire was at its peak across the globe.
There's a fantastic two-part UK drama about this called "Longitude". Long before the trend of having one or two headline names in the cast to pull in an audience, then fill the other roles with unknowns, this is jam packed with everyone who was anyone back in the day, with the lesser roles played by people who went on to be stars in their own right within a few years. It's around 200 minutes long in total, and well worth watching if you're interested in that sort of thing and you can track it down.
@@Stuffed_Cat Yes, I have seen it, when it was broadcast decades ago when the BBC did good drama. The program showed Harrisons exasperation and the stupidity of his 'opposition'. Very highly recommend it as you say.
Greenwich meridian was established in 1852.
By the time of the International Meridian Conference of 1884 in Washington DC two thirds of all shipping was already using the Greenwich Meridian
I wouldn't call Greenwich an "outskirt" of London. It's only 8 miles from the central Trafalgar Square, well within the metropolis. It's 3 miles inside the "north/south circular" suburban ring-road, and about 12 miles inside the M25 motorway that roughly encircles Greater London.
It was far enough from London for the Tudors to have an out of town palace there.
@@highpath4776Yeah, London was a lot smaller then.
Greenwich is in Outer London.
It takes 47 minutes to drive to Trafalgar Square, and 28 minutes to drive to the M25.
@@trytellingthetruth.2068 drive time isnt wholly indicative, sometimes it takes me 20mins to get OFF the M25 at the nearest slip road
@@highpath4776
Been there, done that.
Greenwich is worth a guess visit, even just tosee and find out about Harrisons clocks, and the story of longitude.
Britain decided that Greenwich was the centre of the world, because it invented the method to accurately measure longitude, by accurately creating the first clock that could travel on board a ship. If you know the time at Greenwich and you know the time locally, you can work out your longitude compared to London. Harrison created the first accurate clock that could travel on a ship. Technically called the Harrison IV chronometer. Parliament created a competition to create an accurate clock. Harrison won, but Parliament didn't pay out. The Harrison IV is missing to history, but if you go to Greenwich you can see the Harrison I II and III.
You not knowing who Chester Arthur was is funny, because when I (a Brit) heard that name I was reminded of the 3rd Die Hard movie, and there was reference to him as a clue to where the bomb in a school was... I wish my brain would remember useful things...
While it is true that Greenwich was chosen as the meridian because of Britain’s pre-eminence in a number of spheres, the other reason was where to put the international date line. If the Meridian was in Washington DC it would have cut East Asia in half, which was a non flyer. Putting it down the Bearing Strait and across the Pacific never crossing a land mass was the obvious choice. This then put the Meridian in Western Europe and Africa. The only practical contenders were London and Paris.
Never heard of "The British Navy." It's called The Royal Navy.
don't be petty
@@THEoneYETI Not petty, factual.
It's a navy, it's British, and it's the main or only entity that fits that description. Therefore it's the British navy.
@@barneylaurance1865 The ignorance is strong with this one.
@@AndyLeMaitre Where's the ignorance? I said it *is* the British navy, I didn't say it's officially *called* the British navy.
Some British railway stations still have clocks with a red, and a black, minute hand, showing "local time", and ""railway time".
The empire is very much still alive... it's just called the commonwealth now and the empire lurks in the shadows.😂 It's why the king still awards the MBE which stands for member of the British Empire. Also the British invented over 60% of everything we use today
It's really not though. Even the overseas territories are entirely self governing apart from defence & foreign relations. The empire has been dead for decades now.
@@generaladvance5812 that's just how it's wanted to be seen. It still rules over 14 countries... that's the definition of an empire
Only three remaining colonies these days.
@@stetrainer578The Commonwealth rules over none of its constituent countries. It is a club which a country can join or leave at will. Empires are something completely different.
There are 15 realms which share the same constitutional monarch as their ceremonial head of state: those countries happen all to be members of the Commonwealth which is why they are referred to as "Commonwealth Realms".
The many other Commonwealth countries have their own heads of state, be they ceremonial or weilding sovereign executive power. The King of the UK plays no role in any of those.
The most recently admitted countries to the Commonwealth were never part of the British Empire (e.g. Gabon, Togo, Rwanda).
The current head of the Commonwealth is the King of the UK but (a) the position is *not* hereditary and (b) the Commonwealth can choose anyone from any Commonwealth nation as its head and (c) the position is purely ceremonial. The chief executive of the Commonwealth of Nations is the Secretary-General who is on charge of the Commonwealth Secretariat which runs the organisation. Until the current Secretary-General, Baroness Scotland, who has dual citizenship (Dominica and UK), there had never been a Secretary-General from the UK.
A Commonwealth which was the British Empire Mark II could not exist: India would have left when it became a republic in 1950, many or most countries would have declined to join on gaining independence and the nations which have joined in recent decades with no previous connection to Britain would not have done so.
The Kingdoms of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and the 10 other Commonwealth realms do not consider themselves part of a British Empire, in just the same way as Hanover before 1837 did not consider itself part of the British Empire and Scotland before 1707 did not consider itself part of an English Empire.
@@lordprefab5534 the empire isn't just the colonies
Trains, also invented in Britain, Brought standard, accurate time to our country.
Strictly Trains were invented in Germany ( hand or horse hauled/propelled) , but used far more in british collieries and mining areas
@@highpath4776 The first British Act of Parliament for a waggon-way upon which carts of coal were pulled by horses was in 1758.
@@geoffas over land that the company didnt own, hence the parliamentary act. Previous rail/tramways/ (inc wooden railed ones) had been , certainly in england, effectively on the landowners land , or by some kind of mutual agreement ( thinking of the NE collieries short distance to the tyne
And got people more than a few miles from their birthplaces for the 1st time
@@highpath4776 Yep, You could build whatever on your own land, but to traverse other peoples' land you had to get a 'right of way' and pay rent to the landowner(s).
John Harrison invented the first seagoing chronometer in 1728, long before the 1800's. He based his time as zero from Greenwich. The Royal Navy found it's way around the world, & colonised / occupied these lands well before the 1800's, because of Harrison's sea going Chronometer. His chronometer also helped the first national & international flights, 1900''s +, find their way around the world. GMT also explains why France, & it's neighbours, colonies, & US, moved to left hand drive cars, France wanted 0 degrees Latitude to go through Paris, Not London.....little naggling neighbours ! Who'd have them .......????
One of the other reasons was that the best ocean 19:50 navigation charts of that era were produced the the Hydrographer of the (Royal) Navy. Thus most ships were using British charts centred on Greenwich. It was easier to say "you know what we'll just centre Zero Longitude on Greenwich as that will be cheaper!"
Paris REALLY REALLY wanted it. we let them make the official 1 metre length instead
@@highpath4776 The french are so nutty about trying to be in charge, and the metric system, they wanted to change clocks as well lol.
1793, the French smashed the old clock system in favor of French Revolutionary Time, which was a 10-hour day, with 100 minutes per hour, and 100 seconds per minute. .....goofs :)
@@ukqwerty999that's really interesting going to have look that one up want to know about days week's etc etc etc
When you go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, you can stand on the Meridian Line from which all world time is calculated. BTW, it's not called "The British Navy", it's The Royal Navy 🇬🇧🫡🇬🇧
Finally, JJ, I must say that you FEEL a lot more centrally placed here.
I've lived overseas, but here it takes roughly the same amount of time to get anywhere east or west. Of-course I'm not including Europe in this (as this is our back yard).
From the Americas, everywhere requires a long journey.
Perhaps our Plymouth bretherin didn't think about this before they rushed over to discover pastures new.!
I think the majority never saw their homeland again.!!
I'm glad I'm not the only person who finds maps intriguing, in fact I can spend ages looking at maps. It's called the Greenwich Meridian.
When you come over, take the Uber fast ferry down to Grernwich.
The entire area is one huge historic ex naval academy.
Of-course, these days, lots of the buildings are now coffee bars, and colleges of all kinds, including music.
A small part may still be associated with maritime affairs, but these days - if I'm taking visitor friends to visit historical naval ports, I would take them to somewhere like Portsmouth - the modern day home of naval academic activity
(90 mins from London).
Can't believe he went to the trouble of making the video, with all the animation and what not, and he didn't realise that the north pole is 90 Deg north, not 180! And vice versa for south. 😂
Attention to detail. That's why we modern 'Brits' are still the centre of the world.😂
Hilarious; and the commentator sagely nodding his head, "Yeah, that makes sense."
If you've seen Die Hard with a Vengence, Chester Arthur is mentioned in it. Only reason I've heard of him.
I wish that were still the worst Die Hard.
I have seen no Die Hard films, but I have known of Chester Alan Arthur since I received an encyclopaedia as a gift for Christmas 1956 when I was eight and over a year or two the names of each POTUS stuck in my mind forever, initially up to the current one, Eisenhower. It has been no strain to remember the subsequent ones. Being British this ability has been of zero use to me! I was amused that in an episode of ‘The Phil Silvers Show’ being shown over here in the late 1950s (I became then and remain an avid viewer) Ernie Bilko is selling tickets to for a ‘celebration’ dance in honour/honor of an act passed under the presidency of this man.
You can literally hear American brains imploding trying to get their heads around the international date line lol
Don't just pick on Americans has a radio amateur we log all times using GMT so when we send a message we always use and ignore British Summer time, getting some of my students to grasp this was a nightmare nightmare.
I live 5 mins from the royal observatory and the gmt line it's lovely round here the queens house museums if u ever come to London
The number 1 Reason why Greenwich was chosen, was because it put the international date line through the Pacific. Thereby putting the change of the date in the least disruptive part of the world. When it is noon in Greenwich London, it is for that brief moment the same day thought the world. While it is true the mishmash of the date line is wiered, putting the date line through the Atlantic between Africa and South America would have at mid day put Europe and America on different days of the week. We would only be on the same week day for an instant at midnight.
The reason was because the fifth Royal Astronomer, Nevil Maskelyne, who in 1767 introduced the Nautical Almanac as part of the Great 18th Century quest to determine longitude.
These were tables of "Lunar Distance", data based on observations at Greenwich and using GMT as the time standard. This data enabled navigators to find their position at sea.
On May 28th at 12.00 Greenwich meantime, London would actually be at 1.00 pm as we put the clocks forward at the end of March to British Summer Time. We only use GMT in winter.
Well spotted!
Britain also invented trains and railways 😀
And everything else.
And the digital computer. And the modern world. (Without the British Empire we would still be living in a post-medieval/pre-industrial society.)
There is also a map men video about timezones that I think you haven't watched yet! Keep up the good work! 🤗
Edit: the map men video is called "The world's silliest timezones".
I lived briefly in Carcassonne Aude France which still marks the line of the Paris meridian on The Canal du Midi 😊
I'm not American and know next to nothing about US presidents, but I did know the 21 president.
Bruce Willis told me. 😂
We sorted railway time long before this, if you look closely at some old rail station clocks - they have two minute hands.
We also invented the first chronometer capable of keeping good time on a ship thus enabling good navigation. I think it was John Harrison with the H3.
We had more good quality maps than other countries because of the Royal Navy.
Latterly, we also invented the atomic clock at NPL. This is required for UTC (coordinated at the metrology place in Paris) and for GPS.
As one of our comedians is fond of saying, the world runs to GMT - Greenwich Mean Time, and not Paris Mean Time - PMT thank god.
North and South Poles are +90 and -90 not 180. Aside from that it's accurate.
Such a silly mistake to make.
Kind of felt the whole "Countries didn't really trade or cooperate before the 1800s" was a bit silly, Silk Road has been around a tiny bit longer than that and most of the wars the pictures he used were exactly because of large alliances and control of trade.
"little outskirts town" - Greenwich is in zone 2 central London.
In the TV show JAG, about the Judge Advocate General's office, I found out that the navy uses Zulu time, the time at the zero meridian.
Re: Greenwich... the hill there was chosen for the Royal (astronomical) Observatory, where scientists did a lot of the research into the motion of the planets, inc this one. So had a good insight into "time". BUT it could be seen from the Naval docks on the Thames. So to set ship's clocks, everyday to this day, at 1pm a ball on a pole is dropped marking the hour.
Given Britain's dominance of the oceans, it's no wonder Greenwich was chosen. And it's a little vice versa, too
Loved that thanks
Center of the world is the Core, bloody hot down there 😂
Also unbelievably high pressure too. 😁
1815 was the key date. Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was beaten. Europe was at peace. Time was standardised in Britain because of the stagecoaches.
Up until the interwar period the Royal Navy was the most powerful and largest, the Navy won and kept British power for years.
The Royal Navy, young man. If enough of us say it, you may remember? Still the best on an individual basis.
BTW, we have a brass marker in the centre of my village near Cambridge, which indicates the line of the Grenwich Meridian. (Do not pronounce the "W" in Grenwich)
nor the second e
It's not that easy learning the English silent letters ,especially if you weren't born here
J.j. your doing good❤
Places all landmasses in view without dividing them randomly too, so makes sense
And Nepal is in a time zone of its very own, being 5 hrs 45 mins ahead of GMT.
Hi, Greenwich used to be Kent along with Lewisham next door, so was not even considered Greater London till 1965. I lived there and in other areas of London which were still Surrey till 1965 too.
I read somewhere that the guy doing this commentary is anti British. That is why he probably did not tell you that the British gave the world trains and at the time Britain was the most important country on earth.
I don't think he's anti-British, the Yanks aren't taught much British history in school.
I don't think he's anti-British, the Yanks aren't taught much British history in school.
@@geoffas I know that the Yanks are not taught much about the world, particularly history but I believe that this commentator IS anti British. Apart from the fact that I read it, you can tell by the way he talks not giving the British the credit for anything.
Oh I'm so so proud to be English ❤❤
Those boundary lines are very strange.... I can't believe they haven't straighten them out! 🙃
Nowadays the Greenwich Observatory has a laser beam on at night, to show the Meridian. 😎
You can go and stand on the Greenwich Meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Earth spins counter clockwise when viewed from the North Pole, which is why you go back in time when you travel West until you reach the International Date Line. As Al Murray the Pub Landlord explained, " the International Date Line is where middle aged men can meet and marry ladies from the Philippines"....😀
A Pedant writes: it's not the Sun that is moving - at least in the sense that you were implying - it is the Earth that is rotating.
Growing up near Greenwich, I've always found it so helpful when travelling that everywhere is my time +/-. Must be a lot more difficult if you're in, for example, GMT-3 and travelling to GMT+2 and trying to calculate the current time based off you're own. Or is that not a problem? Certainly less a problem these days now our phones can automatically change to local time I guess.
The Greenwich Meridian runs right through my village Somersham Cambridgeshire
Have a great day today JJ
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves! LØL
10:27 Johnny is honestly quite insufferable sometimes, I swear.
Yeah, I just wish he would listen to the end of a sentence!
I'm hoping you wouldn't need clocks to stop the trains hitting each other - properly operated signals do that. But you need clocks to stop the trains block each other's ways.
You should read out the Oxford English Dictionary as a sleep aid, you have the most relaxing voice. This is a compliment
As Al Murray pointed out, we the Brits decided when the Germans could sit down for lunch.
bristol railway station had a clock with two minute hands 6 minuets apart to show london time and local time
He was a bit of a pissy pants lol
Probably getting your mate to burn your papers , was the same as having your search history erased, mum will never know 😉
What Johnny didn’t mention is that the international date line has implications if it splits close trading partners, as a 23 hour gap can effect things like stock markets and travel. It being in the pacific effects the least amount of people in this way, so the prime meridian being in the UK makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it is about old white men getting their own way, but not always.
There was a time period where, by law, the royal navy had to be able to beat the next 2 naval powers combined, this was changed going up to ww1 that britain had to be able to beat germany's navy.
A typically America-centric concept of history. Britain was trading in the iron age - tin, lead, copper, gold, silver, and probably oak.
The.USA had already chosen Greenwich as the basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian.
The decision was based on the argument that by naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º, it would be advantageous to the largest number of people. Therefore the Prime Meridian at Greenwich became the centre of world time.
It's confusing how people have started to use "1800s" instead of '19th Century', 1800s was reserved for 1800 to 1819., followed by the 1820s, 1830s etc. when people say 1800s now I'm never sure when it is that they are referring to.?? Obviously (?) the date line is in the middle of the ocean so that it is where there are fewest people? But the time doesn't jump, only the date.
Shocked of the UK.
1800s can also refer to: The century from 1800 to 1899, so any year beginning with 18+ or the '1800s', or 1600s, 1700s, etc., etc. I personally use 19th century, 18th century, etc., but it doesn't really matter.
@@gooner_duke2756in 20th century UK I never heard anyone use it to refer to the whole century though. Is it a US thing? To n m e it is confusing.
It helps the Yanks in their total confusion! Also very confusing for many, even here, is that the centuries run from 01 to 00. Therefore, the nineteenth century runs from 1st January 1801 and ended on 31st December 1900. Unfortunately it's becoming standard practice to do it the wrong way here too!
Johnny has incorrectly marked 2 time zones as 4AM. Only one time zone is 4AM with the date line passing through the middle. He also got the 5AM zone incorrect.
The Observatory is worth an episode in its own right. The meridians is from the telescope inside.
Harrison designed chronometers that would be accurate in the moving environment of the sea. Pendulum driven clocks wouldn't work in such an unstable environment. Establishing latitude was relatively easy with a sextant. But establishing local noon with an inaccurate clock was a nightmare. His inventions led to accurate navigation.
Bristol, England still has a clock with a Bristol Time hand on it
Chester A Arthur is the answer to a question in Die Hard With A Vengeance movies (with Samuel L Jackson and Jeremy Irons)
The Royal Navy was already based in Greenwich from the reign of believe or not Henry VIII. Yes him with the 6 wives. His royal palace was also located there in Greenwich. Further down the road in Deptford, Royal Navy ships were built there. There was also industry that served the shipping industry, such as mapmakers, navigation instrument makers, cartographers etc . The British already used Greenwich as a means to measure time long before the US was a country.
Greenwich is not a little town on the outskirts of London, It's a borough of London,in London.
Always wanted to celebrate new year on the International Date Line, and/or chase New Year’s Eve around the world and celebrate as many as possible - albeit all on a plane
British Navy is still very great. We have Trident (UK nuclear programme) which is nuclear missile-armed or ballistic missile Vanguard-class submarines. In short Britain can nuke anything, anywhere at any time. Quite scary if you think about it.
It's a pity that (maybe) the Yanks hold all of the launch codes for the ICBMs 🤔
@@geoffas I doubt it.
To your point 5:35 most railways in Britain had two tracks so trains going in opposite directions would never meet. Then in the 80s (maybe? Someone will correct that) the ‘innovation’ of single track working was introduced. But, still, most uk permanent ways have two tracks. I am very interesting
He made an error, the North and South poles are not 180°, they are 90°.
Al Murray (pub landlord) take on this (why britain is the centre of the world) is hilarious on this
So if 9-11 happened at 9am in NYC it actually happened on 09-12 in parts of the world, and of course, if you use the international date format it happened on 12-09. So they could call the event 12-09 instead of 9-11 if they wanted to. Not sure why I thought like writing that, but it was kind of interesting, although pointless. It's 3am.
For a small island the British Empire truly was so powerful. We conquered 23% of the entire planet 🇬🇧
I'm English, and even I know that Chester A. Arthur was the 21st President of the US
because it was a plot point in Die Hard With A Vengeance
I had a heart attack emergency ambulance to Hospital, Major Surgery 3 weeks in Hospital followed by 2 months Rehabilitation at the hospitals outpatients unit. Total cost directly NIL but I have paid tax either directly or indirectly for many year's and still pay tax on my occupational pension. But its brillant compared to the USA.
The concept of the International Date Line is often a little hard to think clearly about. None more so than when considering this hypothetical situation:
If a pregnant woman is travelling onboard a ship on the 1st March, (in a non-Leap year,) as the ship travels East over the International Date Line, and she then starts to give birth to twins...
If she gives birth to the first of the twins on the 1st of March on the Western side of the date line, then that baby's birthday would be March 1st...
If the ship then crosses the date line, and she gives birth to the second twin on the Eastern side of the date line, where it's still February 28th, then the second, YOUNGER twin's birthday would be February 28th...
So, in later years, the twins would have different birthdays: the older one celebrating a birthday on March 1st, and the younger one celebrating a birthday on February 28th, (before his/her older sibling?!!)
And in a leap year, the YOUNGER sibling would celebrate his/her birthday TWO DAYS BEFORE his/her elder brother or sister!
!!! My brain hurts thinking of this !!!
I used to know 2 twins that were born either side of midnight on 31st Dec 1979 & 1st Jan 1980, so literally born in different decades. Theoretically this may well have happened somewhere around the world for the year 2000, and have twins born in different millenia.
Arbitrary meridians: yes.
Try a comic album of Tintin, called 'the Secret of the Unicorn', where the old Paris-based meridian treasure map means they are looking for an island in the wrong place, as modern charts use the Greenwich meridian.
How come the Greenwich Time Ball wasn't mentioned? Ships used it to synchronise their onboard clocks to GMT.
No, you can't go 180 degrees north, only 90 degrees.
180 degrees will take you back to the equator on the other side.
Happy late birthday !
Technically if you think about it, the british navy is still the best because Us is predominantly still made of people who hailed from britain. Of course other cultures and countries too but us navy is kind of the son of the British navy.
Says, 180 degrees North and 180 degrees South, next image of a globe shows North Pole as 90 degrees north. One quarter of a circle.
Happy birthday for tomorrow! (I am in GMT+7, so it's the morning of the 22nd right now). Also - the video didn't mention that the British Empire at its height encompassed around 22% of the world's landmass, and around 22% of its population. It also didn't mention that if the prime meridian were further east of west, then the landmasses of Far Eastern Russia and Far Western Alaska would end up being in the same time zones, and it makes GOOD sense to have the international date line in the middle of the largest ocean with very little land in it. And preferably separating Alaska and Siberia. So there are good geographical reasons for that too - although the same would be possible with Paris as the prime meridian!
Also, finally, DO go to visit the Greenwich observatory and the Royal Naval Museum (at the same site - or a very short walk from each other). It's a wonderful place to visit, with some great naval history going back centuries.
Greenwich has the greenwich time ball whitch drops everyday at i think its 1 oclock...
When it's 1:30 a.m. in California, it's 5:30 p.m. here in Western Australia. I guess that why you get Americans asking why we didn't warn them about 9/11. (i.e. 11/9) 💁