![]() ![]() I feel certain he would have enjoyed the beautiful music, as he played the viol, rang and tuned the bells at his parish church in Barrow, and served as choirmaster there. I can't help but wonder how John Harrison would have reacted to the service. ![]() But the astronomer royal said: "Oh, you can see an eclipse anytime." I had planned to go on an eclipse trip, and I was worried that if we held the ceremony on the 24th I'd miss it. ![]() ![]() Harrison has the unusual circumstance that his birthday and death dates are the same - so it had to be March 24. Then the question came up: what should be the date for the memorial service? Within a few months we had an appointment at the abbey, and were walking round picking out the site on the floor and discussing memorial design. I told him about the campaign to get the memorial, and Sir Arnold took it to heart and instantly said that he was just the troublemaker to make it happen. Then, a year and a half ago, I received the Harrison Medal from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and at the banquet my host was the 14th astronomer royal, Sir Arnold Wolfendale. I wrote a letter to the dean of the Abbey, but nothing happened. Not long after the book was published in England, I was approached to support a petition to found a memorial for Harrison in Westminster Abbey. ![]()
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