Introduction
Yorkshireman John Harrison was a carpenter by trade, but he taught himself clockmaking to such a high standard that he came to the attention of the Astronomer Royal, Edmund Halley.
IN their day, John Harrison’s innovative clocks were perhaps the most precise in the world.
But his greatest achievement was a watch that could keep accurate time on long sea-journeys, such as Britain’s trade empire depended on.
It was a matter not only of keeping steady time on a rolling ship, but of tracking changing longitude, as ships were literally being lost every year. So in 1714 Parliament offered a prize of £20,000 for a satisfactory solution.
Unfortunately, the award was in the gift of Harrison’s principal competitor, Nevil Maskelyne, who dismissed Harrison’s successful trials, in 1762 and 1764, as luck.
Harrison appealed to King George III, who tested the watch himself, and instructed Parliament to award Harrison the prize. It never did, to Harrison or to anyone else.
Nonetheless, Harrison’s technology was used by James Cook to chart Australia, and soon sea-faring without it was unthinkable. His prize was to be one of the architects of the modern world.
Précis
In the 1760s, Yorkshireman John Harrison developed a mechanism for tracking longitude on board a sea-faring vessel, hitherto an insoluble problem that had cost many ships and lives. Parliament had promised a handsome prize to the inventor of such a device, but jealousies and vested interests meant that despite pressure from King George III, Harrison never received it. (58 / 60 words)
In the 1760s, Yorkshireman John Harrison developed a mechanism for tracking longitude on board a sea-faring vessel, hitherto an insoluble problem that had cost many ships and lives. Parliament had promised a handsome prize to the inventor of such a device, but jealousies and vested interests meant that despite pressure from King George III, Harrison never received it.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, if, may, otherwise, since, whereas, whether, who.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Innovative. Lose. Ship.
2 Not. So. Technology.
3 Clock. Competitor. Satisfactory.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
