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- 1: The Jewish War: Second half of Book 4
- 2: We Didn't Start the Fire (in the 18th century)
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timeasmymeasure
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Re: Longitude
Date: 2021-08-03 08:09 am (UTC)Mind you, checking out wiki, it also seems to think G3 saved the day for Harrison. And while he was still compos mentis, he was interested in the sciences and very supportive. (One of many reasons why the decadent King Britpop version of him in Hamilton cracks me up was that of all the Hannovers, G3 was the least like that for sure. (Not even when mad.) I mean, this is "Farmer George" we're talking about, he who was way more into gardening and the natural sciences than partying and was the most bourgois of monarchs this side of FW in that century.
Greenwich and the Royal Observatory (and the Maritime Museum), btw, is very worth a visit, if you two haven't been there in ye olde days when it was still possible to travel. You can take the subway, but I went per boat in 2016, which a fabulous ride where you see lots of London from the Thames.
Alas I don't recall the Harrison clockworks, which look gorgeous in the pics you linked, but I did take photos of the Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark and the Navy Museum (located in the former palace; the fact that they have the Armada portrait there reminds me Elizabeth I was actually born at Greenwich, though only a tiny part of the old structure survives):
Greenwich Palace:
The Cutty Sark:
The largest collection of figureheads, so I'm told:
The Royal Observatory:
Where they have the Meridian. I did, however, have no intent to queue for 45 minutes in order to step on it. There were other things to admire. Like a statue of Yuri Gargarin, aka the first man in space:
And what a magnificent view from the Observatory back to London!
Re: Longitude
Date: 2021-08-03 01:12 pm (UTC)Unsurprisingly, I've never heard of it. Let us know if you watch it!
Mind you, checking out wiki, it also seems to think G3 saved the day for Harrison. And while he was still compos mentis, he was interested in the sciences and very supportive.
Oh, sure, the factual aspect of G3 saving Harrison is not the part I'm questioning! That seems well enough documented. It's the fairy-tale vibe of good triumphing over evil and the monarch as a symbol of good that I'm side-eyeing. Maybe it was that one-sided! But I feel like a book written from the perspective of the astronomers miiiight have more to say about their contributions and not just how they persecuted poor Harrison.
(I have to say, reading Czernin after Blanning on Joseph II was kind of a trip. I walked away glad I had read *both*, because each of them showed me exactly how selective the other was being.)
What lovely pictures you have, as always! I have not been; have not been to London, in fact. My planned 2018 trip got canceled a few days before I was due to leave, because work was being brutal. :/ But the Royal Observatory looks amazing, and I will keep it in mind when I do finally make it to London.
Re: Longitude
Date: 2021-08-04 05:30 am (UTC)I have been to London, though the last time was almost twenty years ago now! but never to Greenwich, and I can see I have missed out :) (...Yuri Gagarin, though?) I'll have to go back :)