THE LONE GENIUS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

A talk by Graeme Wheeler on Saturday, 18th February at 7.30pm in Lympstone Village Hall
Clocks are one of Graeme Wheeler’s great passions, and he repairs them in his Lympstone workshop.

In his talk at the Village Hall, he will be telling us the story of one of his heroes, John Harrison, the clockmaker who changed the world.

Harrison was an 18th century Yorkshire cabinet maker who taught himself about clocks. His greatest achievement was to solve the problem of calculating longitude, which enabled sailors to
navigate accurately for the first time. Captain Cook used one of the marine watches that Harrison designed, and so did Captain Bligh of the Bounty, and all sailors have since have been dependent on Harrison’s discoveries. In spite of this, Harrison encountered great snobbery, and half of the huge prize that had been offered for solving longitude was withheld from him. It took an intervention by George III to secure him all the money.

When the BBC held a poll to discover the public’s choice of the Greatest 100 Englishmen some 20 years ago, Harrison came 39th. With his knowledge of horology and maritime history, and with great enthusiasm, Graeme Wheeler tells us the story of this remarkable lone genius, and explains in simple terms just why his achievements were so astonishing.

This talk is given in aid of the Friends of Lympstone Church, who raise money to repair and maintain our oldest and most beautiful building.
Tickets £5 from Demelza, 2 Brookfield Cottages, EX8 5ES tel. 01395 272 243