GREENWICH TOWN

Greenwich, seen from across the River Thames, was said to be Sir Christopher Wren's favourite view, and indeed, Greenwich is a special place. It is a royal cradle. It is where time begins and ends. It is where East meets West. According to the widely travelled Daniel Defoe, Greenwich in 1720 possessed "fine buildings… the most beautiful river in Europe, the best air, best prospeet and the best conversation in Europe".

Although modern industrial London has rolled past in its uncompro- mising march east, somehow it seems to have missed Greenwich, and the little town remains an emerald jewel on the Thames, and a worthy Heritage Site.

Overlooking Greenwich from the summit of the park, with one of the great views of London, is the Royal Observatory, the first observatory in England. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in 1675. The first Astronomer Royal, appointed by Charles II, was John Flamsteed. He was succeeded in 1720 by Edmond Halley, who charted the course of his famous comet here but died before seeing his calculations proved correct. In 1833 a time ball, the first visual time signal in the world, was placed on top of the observatory, and ever since that day the time has been raised at 12.55 and dropped precisely at 13.00, so that ships on the river can set their clocks accurately. The time ball was linked by Britain's first telegraph cable to a similar time ball at Walmer, on the south coast, for the benefit of shipping in the English Channel.The World's first weather forecasts were issued in 1848 by James Glaisher of the Greenwich Royal Observatory, for inclusion in the follow- ing day's Daily News. They were based on Glaisher's of observa- tions taken at a number of meteorological stations around the country and telegraphed through London.

In 1884 a conference in Washington voted that Greenwich should be the location of the Prime Meridian, or 0 degrees longitude, for two rea- sons. First, the observatory's work had been instrumental in calculating new methods of navigation and time-keeping, and second, a large pro- portion of the world's shipping at that time passed through the Port of London. Hence East meets West at Greenwich and the world set its clocks

by Greenwich Mean Time.

Running through the courtyard of the observatory is a line marking the Prime Meridian, and a lot of fun can de had by straddling the line - placing one foot in the Western Hemisphere and one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere. At night a laser light shines out from the observatory along the line of the Prime Meridian, which crosses the river near Blackwall.

The 'pips' were first broadcast by the BBC on 5 February 1924, provid- ed directly from the Royal Observatory to the BBC's studio at Savoy Hill. In 1957 the Royal Observatory staff moved to Herstmonceaux in Sus- sex, to escape the pollution of London, and in the late 1990s to Cambridge. Flamsteed House, Sir Christopher Wren's original observatory building,

contains London's only public camera obscura.

The 28-inch (170 mm) refracting telescope at Greenwich Observatory

is the largest of its kind in Britain and the seventh largest in the world.

The Millennium Dome, built on the Prime Meridian to celebrate the new millennium, was completed just in time, in June 1999. It is the larg- est dome in the world and also the largest single-roofed structure in the world. At its highest point the Dome is 164ft (50 m) high. "The Dome featured in the pre-title sequence of the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough", and in 2000 was at the centre of a real-life James Bond scenario, when police foiled an attempt to steal 200 mln. pounds worth of diamonds from an exhibition there. The thieves crashed through the wall of the Dome in a bulldozer, setting off smoke bombs before trying to remove the diamonds, but the police had been informed about it and were waiting for them. The dome is now the object-oriented entertainment complex.Greenwich seems to be Untouched by the modern industrial


11 Edmond Halley was lucky to see his well-calculated comet in

the Royal Observatory.

1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:



12 There are just a few visual time signals in the world.

I) True

2) False

3) Not Stated

Ответ:

13 The time ball gives ships an opportunity to set their time according

to it.

1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:

14 There were a lot of debates over the location of the Prime Meridian.

l) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:

15 The reasons for being the Prime Meridian in Greenwich were based

on shipping and successful work in the Royal Observatory.

1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:

16 The Royal Observatory is just an entertainment for tourists now.

1) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:

[17 ]

The Dome was specially built to be a shooting place of James Bond film. I) True

2) False

3) Not stated

Ответ:
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