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A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct
time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in association with the
Paris Observatory
The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histor ...
, on 14 February 1933.
The format of the service is similar to that of radio
time signal
A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day.
Church bells or voices announcing hours of prayer gave way to automatically operated chimes on public clocks; however, a ...
services. At set intervals (''e.g.'' ten seconds) a voice announces (for example) "At the third stroke, the time will be twelve forty-six and ten seconds...", with three beeps following. Some countries have sponsored time announcements and include the sponsor's name in the message.
List by country
Australia
In Australia, the number 1194 was the speaking clock in all areas. The service started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department, originally to access the talking clock on a rotary dial phone, callers would dial "B074", during the transition from a rotary dial to a
DTMF
Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is a telecommunication signaling system using the voice-frequency band over telephone lines between telephone equipment and other communications devices and switching centers. DTMF was first developed ...
based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1194. It was always the current time from where the call originated, in part due to
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
's special call routing systems. Landline, Payphone and Mobile customers who called the 1194 time service would receive the time. A male voice, often known by Australians as "George", would say "At the third stroke, it will be (hours) (minutes) and (seconds) seconds/precisely. (three beeps)" e.g. "At the third stroke, it will be three thirty three and forty seconds". The time announcement was announced in 10 second increments and the beep was 1 kHz. Originally there was only one stroke eg:”At the stroke, it will be...” etc.
Prior to automatic systems, the subscriber rang an operator who would quote the time from a central clock in the exchange with a phrase such as "The time by the exchange clock is ...". This was not precise and the operator could not always answer when the subscriber wanted. In 1954, British-made systems were installed in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
(1st floor, City West Exchange) and
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. The mechanical speaking clock used rotating glass discs where different parts of the time were recorded on the disc. A synchronous motor drove the disc with the driving source derived from a 5 MHz
quartz oscillator
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal as a frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable cloc ...
via a multi stage
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
divider. This was
amplified to give sufficient impetus to drive the motor. Because of the low torque available, a hand wheel was used to spin the motor on start up. The voice was provided by
Gordon Gow. The units were designed for continuous operation. Both units in Melbourne and Sydney were run in tandem (primary and backup). For
daylight saving time
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...
changes, one would be on line while the second was advanced or delayed by one hour and at the 02:00:00 Australian Eastern Standard time, would be switched over to the standby unit.
In addition to the speaking clocks, there was ancillary equipment to provide timing signals, 1 pulse per second, 8 pulses per minute and 8 pulses per hour. The Time and Frequency Standards Section in the PMG Research Laboratories at 59 Little Collins Street, Melbourne maintained the frequency checks to ensure that the system was "on time". From a maintenance point of view, the most important part of the mechanical clocks was to ensure that they were well oiled to minimise wear on the cams and to replace blown bulbs in the optical pickups from the glass disk recordings. When Time & Frequency Standards moved from 59 Collins Street to Clayton Research Labs (3rd Flr. Building M5), the control signals were duplicated and a second bank of
Caesium Beam Primary standards installed so the cutover was transparent with no loss of service.
This mechanical system was replaced with a
digital system in 1990. Each speaking clock ensemble consisted of two announcing units (Zag 500), a supervisory unit (CCU 500), two phase-locked oscillators, two pulse distribution units, a Civil Time Receiver (plus a spare), and two or four Computime 1200 baud
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
s. The voice was provided by
Richard Peach
Richard Peach (1949–2008) was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation news anchor, and the voice of the Australian speaking clock.
Richard was ABC Gippsland radio breakfast announcer and station manager during the early 1990s. He was known to ...
, a former ABC broadcaster. The various components were sent for commercial production after a working prototype was built in the
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
Research Laboratory (TRL). Assmann Australia used a German announcing unit and built a supervisory unit to TRL specifications. Design 2000 incorporated TRL oscillators in the phase locked oscillator units designed at TRL and controlled by two tone from the Telstra Caesium beam frequency standards. Ged Company built civil time receivers. The civil time code generators and two tone generators were designed and built within TRL. The changeover occurred at 12 noon, September 12, 1990.
Each state capital had a digital speaking clock for the local time of day with one access number for all Australia, 1194. In 2002 the Telstra 1194 service was migrated to
Informatel (which uses its own digital technology, in conjunction with the
National Measurement Institute
The National Measurement Institute (NMI) is Australia's peak measurement body responsible for biological, chemical, legal and physical measurement and is currently administered within the Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovatio ...
— but kept the original voice of
Richard Peach
Richard Peach (1949–2008) was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation news anchor, and the voice of the Australian speaking clock.
Richard was ABC Gippsland radio breakfast announcer and station manager during the early 1990s. He was known to ...
), whilst the other time services (e.g. hourly pips to radio stations) were retained as a service by Telstra. In May 2006 the remaining Telstra services were withdrawn and the
digital hardware
Digital electronics is a field of electronics involving the study of digital signals and the engineering of devices that use or produce them. This is in contrast to analog electronics and analog signals.
Digital electronic circuits are usually ...
was decommissioned.
[''Telstra Research Laboratory Internal web page''] Telstra ended the 1194 service on the midnight of October 1, 2019 and Australians no longer have access to this service. A web-based simulation of the 1194 service was created by musician
Ryan Monro
Ryan Monro (born 26 July 1981) is an Australian bassist, known for playing with Australian ska/jazz band The Cat Empire. He has been the bassist for The Cat Empire since its inception and also plays in jazz trio "The Genie", which includes fel ...
on the day of the original service's shutdown.
Austria
In
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the speaking clock ("Zeitansage", which literally means "time announcement") can be reached at 0810 00 1503 since 2009. A recorded female voice says: "Es wird mit dem Summerton 15 Uhr, 53 Minuten und 10 Sekunden", meaning "At the buzzing tone, the time will be 15 hours, 53 minutes and 10 seconds", followed by a short pause and a 1 kHz, 0.25 seconds long beep (even though the announcement "buzzing tone" suggests otherwise). The time is announced in 10 second intervals using the voice of radio host Angelika Lang.
Before 2009, the speaking clock was available at local call rates by dialing 1503. Until then, the voice was generated by an Assmann ZAG500 time announcement device. The announcements were voiced by former switchboard operator Renate Fuczik.
Telephone time signals first became available in Vienna in 1929, with an automatic voice announcement being added in 1941.
Belgium
In Belgium, the speaking clock used to be reachable on the numbers 1200 (Dutch language), 1300 (French language), and 1400 (German language). Starting September 2012, the service is only reachable on the numbers +32 78 05 12 00 (Dutch Language), +32 78 05 13 00 (French language) and +32 78 05 14 00 (German language). At the time of the number change, the service received 5,000 calls per day.
Canada
The NRC provides a Telephone Talking Clock service; voice announcements of
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
are made every 10 seconds, followed by a tone indicating the exact time. This service is available to the general public by dialing +1 613 745-1576 for English service and +1 613 745-9426 for French service.
Long-distance
Long distance or Long-distance may refer to:
*Long-distance calling
* Long-distance operator
* Long-distance relationship
* Long-distance train
*Long-distance anchor pylon, see dead-end tower
Footpaths
* Long-distance trail
*European long-d ...
charges apply for those calling from outside the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The voices of the time announcements are
Harry Mannis
Harry Mannis (April 11, 1920 - January 2, 2003) was a Canadian broadcaster who worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.https://www.ogs.on.ca/ogspi_pages/2003/o2003cbh.htm Harry Mannis, retrieved February 4, 2018 He joined the CBC in 1946 ...
in English and
Simon Durivage
Simon Durivage (born December 10, 1944 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian French language television news anchor for '' RDI en direct''. He was recruited by Radio-Canada in 1969 and has since hosted several newscasts and public affairs programs: ...
in French.
China
Dialling 117 in any city connects to a speaking clock that tells the current
time in China
The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing Tim ...
. Despite
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
spanning five time zones, only one time is kept over the country, therefore only one zone related service is required and the same time would be announced regardless of where the call was made. Rates are charged according to the ordinary local number, generally around 0.25 RMB/minute.
Finland
In Finland the speaking clock service is known as ''Neiti Aika'' in
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
or ''Fröken Tid'' in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, both of which mean "Miss Time". The first Neiti Aika service was started in 1936 and was the first automated phone service in Finland. The service is provided by regional phone companies and can be reached by dialling 10061 from any part of the country. The voice of the speaking clock is male or female depending on the phone company service.
['']Turun Sanomat
''Turun Sanomat'' is the leading regional newspaper of the region of Southwest Finland. It is published in the region's capital, Turku and the third most widely read morning newspaper in Finland after '' Helsingin Sanomat'' and ''Aamulehti''.
Hi ...
'', 29.10.2004
Neiti Aika vaihtui herraksi Satakunnassa
(in Finnish) Nowadays the use of the Neiti Aika service has decreased significantly, and the press officer of
Auria, the regional phone company of
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, stated in an article of the ''
Turun Sanomat
''Turun Sanomat'' is the leading regional newspaper of the region of Southwest Finland. It is published in the region's capital, Turku and the third most widely read morning newspaper in Finland after '' Helsingin Sanomat'' and ''Aamulehti''.
Hi ...
'' newspaper that when the company started the service in 1938 it was used 352,310 times in its starting year, compared to 1,300 times in September 2006.
France
In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the speaking clock (''horloge parlante'') was launched in 14 February 1933 and was the first service of its kind worldwide.
[ It is available by dialing 3699 from within France, and was formerly available from overseas by dialing +33 8.36.99. - - . - - (where the - - could be any number). However, since September 2011, calls placed from outside France only work from some countries and networks. In May 2022, French telecom company ]Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
announced that the service will be discontinued on 1 July 2022, due to the "steady and significant decrease" of calls.
Ireland
In Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the speaking clock ( ga, clog labhartha) was first offered by P&T in 1970, and was reached by dialling 1191. It announced the time in 24-hour format, in English only, at ten second intervals punctuated by a high pitched signal, as follows: “At the signal it will be HH:MM and .. seconds (signal). P&T operator Frances Donegan was the original voice. Antoinette Rocks, also a P&T/Telecom Éireann operator, provided the voice of the speaking clock when it was updated to digital technology in 1980. Her voice was selected as part of a competition on a radio phone-in show, RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926.
The total budget for th ...
’s Morning Call with Mike Murphy
Michael James Murphy (born 20 October 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, actor and property developer. He is best known for his long broadcasting career with RTÉ, presenting many TV shows such as ''The Live Mike'', '' Winning Streak'' and '' The Bi ...
. Listeners voted for one of 8 voices. At its peak, it received almost three million calls a year (about 8,000 a day). The Irish speaking clock service was permanently shut down by eir
In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy"Orchard (1997:36).) is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; th ...
(P&T’s successor) on 27 August 2018 due to lack of use and reliance on ageing equipment.
Italy
In Italy, the number of the speaking clock ("il numero dell'ora esatta", "the exact time number") was originally 16, the time was given by a recorded female voice. In the mid-seventies, 16 was replaced by 161. Presently, the number to be dialled is 4261.
Netherlands
On 1 October 1930, a system was installed in the Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
telephone exchange (automated in 1925) which indicated the time using a series of tones, reached by the number 15290.
In 1934, electronic engineer and inventor F.H. Leeuwrik built a speaking clock for the municipal telephone service of The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
using optically recorded speech, looping on a large drum. The female voice was provided by the then 24-year-old school teacher Cor Hoogendam, hence the machine was nicknamed ''Tante Cor'' (Aunt Cor).[''Ik zal u doorverbinden,'' C.J. Wulffraat et al., in ''Honderd jaar telefoon,'' ed. J.H. Schuilenga et al., Staatsbedrijf der Posterijen, Telegrafie en Telefonie, 's-Gravenhage, 1981, p. 215]
In 1969, this system was replaced by a magnetic disk machine resembling a record player
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
with three pick-up arms, telling the time at 10 second intervals followed by a beep. The text was spoken by actress Willie Brill. The service was now called over 130 million times a year.
In April 1992, the machinery was replaced by a digital device with no moving parts. The voice was provided by actress Joke Driessen and the clock's accuracy is maintained by linking it to the German longwave radio transmitter DCF77
DCF77 is a German longwave time signal and standard-frequency radio station. It started service as a standard-frequency station on 1 January 1959. In June 1973 date and time information was added. Its primary and backup transmitter are located ...
. To comply with international guidelines limiting double-zero to use as an international prefix, the 002 number was changed on 3 December 1990[06 straks ook voor tijd en weerbericht](_blank)
Het Vrije Volk, 16 November 1990 to 06-8002, and later to 0900-8002. The service still receives approximately four million calls a year.
New Zealand
The speaking clock in New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
is run by the Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand. The service is reached by dialling 0900 45 678 (calls are 99c per minute). MSL has been running the service since 1989.
Poland
The speaking clock in Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
is known as ''Zegarynka'' which means ''the clock girl''. The service became first available in 1936, using a device invented and patented in Poland. It was speaking with the recorded voice of actress Lidia Wysocka
Lidia Wysocka (June 24, 1916 – January 2, 2006) was a Polish stage, film and voice actress, singer, cabaret performer and creative director, theatre director and costume designer, editorialist.
Filmography
In 1934 she dubbed Madeleine Carroll ...
. The first cities to be equipped with this device were Katowice
Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
, Warszawa
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
(dialing number 05), Gdynia
Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...
, Toruń
)''
, image_skyline =
, image_caption =
, image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg
, image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg
, nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town
, pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...
and Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
(July 1936).
Russia
In 1935, Soviet Central Scientific Research Institute of Communications received a government order to design the "Speaking Clock" for Moscow City Telephone Network
The Moscow City Telephone Network ( ) is a publicly held utility providing local telephone service to over 4,000,000 subscribers in the city of Moscow, Russia. Its Latin acronym is MGTS.
History
Founded in 1882, the Bell Telephone Company built ...
.
Фокина Татьяна Алексеевна «Методические вопросы преподавания инфокоммуникаций в высшей школе» // МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЕ ВОПРОСЫ ПРЕПОДАВАНИЯ ИНФОКОММУНИКАЦИЙ В ВЫСШЕЙ ШКОЛЕ, №3-2020
Speaking clocks (официальный сайт журнала «Мои часы») "Speaking Clock" was constructed based on cinematic techniques
This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.
Basic definitions of terms
;180-degree rule
:A continuity editorial technique in which sequential shots of two or more actors within ...
and consists of discs with pulse-density modulation
Pulse-density modulation, or PDM, is a form of modulation used to represent an analog signal with a binary signal. In a PDM signal, specific amplitude values are not encoded into codewords of pulses of different weight as they would be in puls ...
optical marks on photographic tapes, photocell with actuator, and audio tube amplifier. On May 14, 1937 "speaking clock" connected to Moscow City Telephone Network for test operation and it was reachable on the numbers russian: "Г 1-98-48" and russian: "Г 1-98-49". It was speaking with the recorded voice of Soviet actor and broadcaster Emmanuil Tobiash.
"Speaking clocks", May(№5) 1937, Tekhnika Molodezhi
''Tekhnika Molodezhi'' (russian: Техника — молодёжи, "Technology for the Youth") is a Soviet, and eventually Russian popular science magazine which has been published monthly since 1933.
History and profile
''Tekhnika Molodezhi' ...
, pp. 28-29 In 1937, the first cities to be equipped with this devices were Moscow and Leningrad.
In 1969, the first Soviet "Speaking Clock" was replaced in Moscow City Telephone Network by a magnetic tape machine. Old ones were transferred to the Polytechnic Museum
The Polytechnic Museum (russian: Политехнический музей) is one of the oldest science museums in the world and is located in Moscow. It showcases Russian and Soviet technology and science, as well as modern inventions. It was fo ...
.
To hear the current time in Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, either 100 or 060 can be dialed, depending on the city where this service is available. These calls are free if made from non-mobile phones. In Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, the Speaking Clock number is 100 if dialed from within the city, or +7-495-100-. . . . from other countries (where . . . . can be any number). At one time in Moscow, there were advertisements before and after the announcement of the current time; this practice has since ceased.
Sweden
The speaking clock in Sweden is run by Telia and can be reached by calling 90 510 from landline phones or 08-90 510 from mobile phones. The service is called ''Fröken Ur'' which means Miss Clock. It has been in use since 1934. Various voices have stated the time. Since 2000 the voice which states the time belongs to Johanna Hermann Lundberg. In 1977 the speaking clock in Sweden received 64 000 000 calls - which is the record for a year. In 2020 the number of calls was about 2 000 per day, meaning a total of a bit less than 1 000 000 calls annually.
South Africa
The speaking clock in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
is run by Telkom, the country's national telecommunications provider, and can be reached by dialling 1026 either from a fixed line or a cellular phone. The time is announced every 10 seconds and alternates between English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
languages. An example of an English announcement of the time would be: "When you hear the signal, it will be four hours, fifteen minutes and ten seconds", followed by a short audible tone to signal the exact time previously announced. The voice of the announcements is that of broadcaster and voiceover artist Helen Naudé. Recorded in 1989, the same speaking clock announcements with Naudé's voice are still in use to the present day. Naudé also provided her voice talent to other Telkom services, such as 1023 directory enquiries, as well as the pre-recorded message "The subscriber you have dialled does not exist", which can be heard when dialling an invalid phone number.
Ukraine
The speaking clock in Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
is run in Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
and is reached by dialling +380-48-737 6060.
United Kingdom
Usage
In the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, the speaking clock can be reached by dialling 123 on a BT phone line; the number may vary on other networks. Every ten seconds, a voice announces:
The service was started in 1936 by the General Post Office (which handled telephones at that time) and was continued by BT after its formation in 1980 and privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in 1984. Between 1986 and 2008, the message included the phrase "sponsored by Accurist"; Accurist withdrew their sponsorship in 2008. The "from BT" part was added, then removed at some point, then reinstated.
For times that are an exact minute, "precisely" is substituted for the seconds portion of the announcement. Similarly, announcements for times between the hour and one minute past the hour substitute "o'clock" for the (zero) minutes. Other operators run their own speaking clocks, with broadly similar formats, or redirect to BT's service. Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
have their own service available by dialling 123 from a Virgin Media line. Sky also have their own service accessible by dialling 123 from a Sky telephone line. Dialling 123 from a few mobile services, such as O2, also obtains a speaking clock service. The Giffgaff
Giffgaff (stylised "giffgaff") is marketed as a lower cost mobile phone flanker brand of Telefónica UK (trading as O2 UK), and was launched on 25 November 2009.
Products and services
At launch, Giffgaff's first product was a prepaid SIM c ...
network uses the same service as O2. The service is not available on the 3 mobile telephone network, as they use 123 as the number for their voicemail services. It was also unavailable on the Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
network for the same reason.
On the occasion of a leap second
A leap second is a one- second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), to accommodate the difference between precise time (International Atomic Time (TAI), as measured by atomic clocks) and imprecise observ ...
, such as at 23:59:60 on December 31, 2005, there is an extra second pause between the second and third beeps, to keep the speaking clock synchronised with Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about one second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently used ...
: "At the third stroke, the time from BT will be, twelve o'clock precisely. Beep, Beep, Beep." The current UK time source is the National Physical Laboratory, UK
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It is one of the most extensive government laboratories in the UK and has a prestigious reputation for its role in setting and mainta ...
.
In 2011, the BBC reported: "The service still receives 30 million calls each year."
History
A speaking clock service was first introduced in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
on July 24, 1936. The mechanism used was an array of motors, glass discs, photocells and valves which took up the floorspace of a small room. The voice was that of London telephonist Ethel Jane Cain, who had won a prize of 10 guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
() in a competition to find the "Golden Voice". Cain's voice was recorded optically onto the glass disks in a similar way to a film soundtrack. The service was obtained by dialling the letters TIM (846) on a dial telephone, and hence the service was often colloquially referred to as "Tim". However this code was only used in the telephone systems of the cities of London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. Other areas initially dialled 952, but with the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling it was changed to 808 and later 8081 as more 'recorded services' were introduced. It was standardised to 123 by the early 1990s.
The time announcements were made by playing short, recorded phrases or words in the correct sequence. In an interview with Manchester Radio in 1957 Miss Cain said:
In 1963, the original device was replaced by more modern recording technology using a magnetic drum, similar to the Audichron {{unsourced, date=April 2021
Audichron was a talking clock, or a time announcer which was developed and produced by the Audichron Company, starting in the 1930s. There were several types of Audichron machines including the stand time piece (STM), ...
technology used in the United States. The company that manufactured the rotating magnetic drum part of the Speaking Clock was Roberts & Armstrong (Engineers) Ltd of North Wembley. They took on the licence from the British Post Office to manufacture complete clocks for the telecommunications authorities of Denmark, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland, and a third (spare) clock for the British Post Office. The latter was installed in Bow Street, London. The European clocks were modified for the 24-hour system by lengthening the drum and adding extra heads. Roberts & Armstrong subcontracted the electronic aspects to the Synchronome Company of Westbury. The clocks were designed to run non-stop for 20 years. This system gave way to the present digital system in 1984, which uses a built-in crystal oscillator and microprocessor logic control. The complete apparatus comprises solid-state microchips, occupies no more shelf space than a small suitcase and has no moving parts at all. The BT service is assured to be accurate to five-thousandths of a second.
In 1986, BT allowed Accurist
Accurist Watches Ltd is an English watch manufacturer, headquartered in Leicestershire. The brand was established in 1946 in St John Street, Clerkenwell, London, by Asher and Rebecca Loftus.
Accurist became the first company to sponsor the ...
to sponsor its franchise, the first time a sponsor had been used for the service. In the latter years of this sponsorship, it cost 30 pence to call the speaking clock. Accurist announced its withdrawal from the deal and the launch of an online "British Real Time" website on 24 August 2008.
During the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
speaking clock network was designed to be used in case of nuclear attack to broadcast messages from Strike Command at RAF High Wycombe
RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s ...
to HANDEL
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
units at regional police stations. From there, automatic warning sirens could be started and alerts sent to Royal Observer Corps monitoring posts and other civil defence volunteers equipped with manual warning devices. The rationale for using an existing rather than a dedicated system was that it was effectively under test at all times, rather than being activated (and possibly found to be faulty) only in the event of war. The signals to automatic sirens were sent down the wires of individual (unaware) subscribers for the same reason—a customer would report any fault as soon as it occurred, whereas a problem with a dedicated line would not be noticed until it was needed.
A version of the speaking clock was also used on recordings of proceedings at the Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
made by the BBC Parliament Unit, partly as a time reference and partly to prevent editing. On a stereo recording, one track was used for the sound and the other for an endless recording of the speaking clock—without the pips, as these were found to cause interference.
''BT'' "Speaking Clock" voices
There have been five permanent voices for the speaking clock. Temporary voices have been used on special occasions, usually with BT donating the call fees collected to charity.
Permanent voices
# Ethel Jane Cain, first permanent voice: from July 24, 1936 to 1963.
# Pat Simmons, second permanent voice: from 1963 to April 2, 1985 (may still be heard).
# Brian Cobby
Brian Cobby (12 October 192931 October 2012) was an English actor and telephone exchange worker who, in 1985, became the first male voice of the British speaking clock.
Early life
Cobby was born in Gravesend, Kent, the son of Amy and Sydney ...
, third permanent voice: from April 2, 1985 to April 2, 2007.
# Sara Mendes da Costa, fourth permanent voice: from April 2, 2007 to November 9, 2016.
# Alan Steadman, fifth permanent voice: from November 9, 2016.
Temporary voices
# Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer.
Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...
, comedian, temporary voice for Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
: from March 10 to March 23, 2003.
# Alicia Roland, 12-year-old schoolgirl, temporary voice for the children's charity ChildLine, from October 13 to October 20, 2003, having won a BBC TV
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...
'' Newsround'' competition and stating, before announcing the time, "It's time to listen to young people".
# Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...
, temporary voice as part of a deal to promote the Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
production of ''Tinker Bell
Tinker Bell is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play '' Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation ''Peter and Wendy''. She has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 ...
'', for three months from 26 October 2008 until 2 February 2009.
# UK celebrities Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Jane Scott (née Walsh; born 20 November 1981) is an English singer, fashion designer, model, variety performer, television presenter, actress and dancer. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality series '' Po ...
, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini
Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstars ...
, Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the British pop group Take That.
Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, havi ...
, Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
, and Fearne Cotton
Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...
for Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
charity: from 3 February to 23 March 2009.
# UK celebrities David Walliams
David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Br ...
, Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the British pop group Take That.
Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, havi ...
, Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
, Kimberley Walsh
Kimberley Jane Scott (née Walsh; born 20 November 1981) is an English singer, fashion designer, model, variety performer, television presenter, actress and dancer. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality series '' Po ...
, Fearne Cotton
Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...
and a mystery voice for Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...
charity from 7 March to 9 April 2012.
# Clare Balding temporary voice for Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
from 12 February to 15 March 2013 (with the help of a barking dog, time announced as "at the third woof".)
# Davina McCall
Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show ''Big Brother (UK), Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's '' ...
temporary voice for Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...
from 27 January to 23 March 2014.
# Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...
temporary voice for Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
from 24 February to 13 March 2015.
# Jo Brand
Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English comedian, writer, presenter and actress. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Satu ...
temporary voice for Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...
from 22 January to 30 March 2016.
United States
The first automated time service in the United States began in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in 1934 as a promotion for Tick Tock Ginger Ale. Company owner John Franklin modified Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
technology to create the machine that would become known as the Audichron {{unsourced, date=April 2021
Audichron was a talking clock, or a time announcer which was developed and produced by the Audichron Company, starting in the 1930s. There were several types of Audichron machines including the stand time piece (STM), ...
. The Audichron Company Audichron Company was a company founded in the 1930s by John Franklin in Doraville, Georgia, to produce the Audichron, a talking clock. By the 1970s, there were thousands of Audichron time-of-day announcers in use all over the world. Audichron had ...
became the chief supplier of talking clocks in the US, maintained by local businesses and, later, the regional Bell System
The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...
companies.
The service became typically known as the "Time of Day" service, with the term "speaking clock" never being used. Occasionally it would be called "Time and Temperature" or simply "Time". However, the service has been phased out in most states (Nevada and Connecticut still maintain service). AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
discontinued its California service in September 2007, citing the widespread availability of sources such as mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s and computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s.
For all area code
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...
s in Northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
, and on the West Coast generally, the reserved exchange was 767 which was often indicated by its phoneword
Phonewords are mnemonic phrases represented as alphanumeric equivalents of a telephone number. In many countries, the digits on the telephone keypad also have letters assigned. By replacing the digits of a telephone number with the correspondin ...
, POPCORN; the service was discontinued in 2007. In other locations, different telephone exchanges are or were used for the speaking clock service.
Many shortwave radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
time signal
A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day.
Church bells or voices announcing hours of prayer gave way to automatically operated chimes on public clocks; however, a ...
services provide speaking clock services, such as WWV (voiced by John Doyle) and WWVH
WWVH is the callsign of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's shortwave radio time signal station located at the Barking Sands Missile Range, in Kekaha, on the island of Kauai in the state of Hawaii.
WWVH is the Pacific si ...
(voiced by Jane Barbe
Jane Barbe ( ; July 29, 1928 – July 18, 2003) was an American voice actress and singer. She was known as the "Time Lady" for the recordings she made for the Bell System and other phone companies. The ubiquity of her recordings eventually made he ...
), operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
from the United States of America. To avoid disruption with devices that rely on the accurate timings and placement of the service tones from the radio, the voice recording is "notched" clear of some of the tones.
The website ''Telephone World'' has recordings of past and present "Time of Day" services that also include temperature and weather announcements.
The US Naval Observatory still offers this service by calling (202) 762-1401.
See also
* :Telephone voiceover talent
* Greenwich Time Signal
The Greenwich Time Signal (GTS), popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones (or "pips") broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio stations. The pips were introduced in 1924 and have been generated by the BBC since 199 ...
References
External links
Photograph of the Speaking clock announcer module (ZBA4264) built in 1955
& http://www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/88783/ - Polish speaking clock device from 1936
"The Post Office Speaking Clock in Great Britain"
- ''Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', Volume 139, pp 892–893, published: 22 May 1937 (downloadable pdf)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speaking Clock
Telephone numbers
Clocks
Information by telephone