4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2022
⏱️ 10 minutes
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0:00.0 | In the fall of 2008, part of Cambridge University in England was closed to traffic and a stage |
0:08.0 | was set up. |
0:09.0 | A local band performed people milled about and a large curtain covered the corner of |
0:14.2 | the university's newest library. |
0:17.5 | When the band was done, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking took the stage and the curtain |
0:22.6 | was pulled back to unveil a large gold disc with flashing lights and a giant grotesque |
0:28.8 | insect, mashing its jaws. |
0:33.4 | I'm Dylan Therese and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible |
0:38.2 | and wondrous places. |
0:39.8 | And today we are going to explore a modern landmark in a medieval city, the Corpus Clock. |
0:46.3 | It honors both the past and future of telling time. |
0:50.1 | You just might not want to set your watch to it. |
0:53.8 | More after this. |
0:58.8 | Walking down the streets of Cambridge, the Corpus Clock is a kind of stop you in your |
1:11.2 | tracks with your mouth wide open kind of sight. |
1:15.0 | To start with, it's huge. |
1:16.4 | Its face is 5 feet in diameter, it's golden with ripples that catch the light and instead |
1:21.4 | of numbers, it has slits which light up to tell you the hour, the minute, the second. |
1:27.2 | And then of course, there is the insect sitting on top. |
1:31.2 | It's over a foot long with metal hairs, sharp teeth, waspish wings and a stinger and |
1:36.8 | its spindly legs turn the clock slightly every second, making time literally march on. |
1:44.5 | In a historic city, it's an understatement to say that this clock sticks out. |
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