seaJane Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 In today's Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10726612/Britain-to-turn-off-the-lights-for-First-World-War-centenary.html Also mentions "Letter from an Unknown Soldier" as per the thread started by Phil B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithjk Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 I hope the emergency services will be on stand-by, to deal with all the collisions due to motorway lights being turned off ? Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 At least there are no plans to turn off the power? Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 Surely we can find a spare archduke somewhere to shoot if we are going to be so literal in commemorations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 Surely we can find a spare archduke somewhere to shoot if we are going to be so literal in commemorations? Well there is Archduke Hadrian of Evallonia if you want a pot shot! Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Underdown Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 No-one seems to have noticed my pedantry that as there was no BST in 1914, the vigil service at Westminster Abbey (and now the rest of the lights out) should really take place at midnight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 Surely we can find a spare archduke somewhere to shoot if we are going to be so literal in commemorations? That made me chuckle Robert... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ridgus Posted 27 March , 2014 Share Posted 27 March , 2014 I suppose there is a slight irony in the proposal as Grey made his famous comment while watching lamps being lit in St James' Park not extinguished. Following Centurion's excellent suggestion perhaps the Government should consider bringing back gas lighting in Central London for the occasion David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 28 March , 2014 Author Share Posted 28 March , 2014 Well there is Archduke Hadrian of Evallonia if you want a pot shot! Anne You been reading John Buchan, Anne? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 Following Centurion's excellent suggestion perhaps the Government should consider bringing back gas lighting in Central London for the occasion I stand to be corrected, but I think that St James's Park and some surrounding roads are still lit by gas lamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 What are 'Dazzle Ships'? Been reading about them this week i.e.... Two new dazzle ships will be created. HMS President, which will be dazzled by a contemporary artist commissioned by Chelsea College of Art, is one of the last three surviving warships built during the war. Now moored near Blackfriars Bridge, in Central London, during the war she served as an anti-submarine Q-ship. The Edmund Gardner, a Liverpool pilot cutter, will be painted by the artist Carlos Cruz-Diez in dry dock next to Albert Dock, in Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 I hope the emergency services will be on stand-by, to deal with all the collisions due to motorway lights being turned off ? Keith Round my way the motorway lights are turned off at night. We're quite lucky in that cars in our area are equipped with lights so it's less of a problem than you'd think. On a similarly sideways thought, I am normally tucked up in bed at 2300 hours, so do I a: leave a light on a timer set to go off at 2300 b: stop up late so I can turn the lights off c: Set the alarm for 2258 so I can get up and turn on a light to turn off again at 2300 d: Not bother. Answers on a postcard, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 It's a nice idea, but 23.00 is very late for a mass-participation 'event' without central coordination. Light, like sound, is intrusive, and it doesn't take much of either to negate the effect. A bit like trying to organise a 2-minute silence in a busy shopping precinct. Active light events, like the simultaneous lighting of beacons or torches, can work very well, but I fear that a passive event like this will be too fragmented and will pass almost unnoticed. If I'm right that St James's Park is still lit by gaslights, a co-ordinated dimming of the lamps to a low level, sustained for say 5 minutes, followed by progressively bringing them back to the normal level, might be very effective, but I'm not sure if it is even technically possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithjk Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 Round my way the motorway lights are turned off at night. We're quite lucky in that cars in our area are equipped with lights so it's less of a problem than you'd think. As a true patriot, should I be on the road at 2300 on August 4th., I will of course turn my car lights off for a minute. (And probably slow down to 50 mph for safety reasons) Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 Let me know, just in case the insomnia kicks in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive_hughes Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 Hang on, Am I misreading this or is it suggested that asking people to turn their lights off is going to cost £10 million??!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartH Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 In Finland on Independence Day people burn a candle in remembrance, often with lights out, it works well there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 You been reading John Buchan, Anne? Not recently seaJane but I do remember him in the House of the Four Winds. I expect Centurion could find a real live one from somewhere though! Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 28 March , 2014 Author Share Posted 28 March , 2014 They're probably a protected species these days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 No-one seems to have noticed my pedantry that as there was no BST in 1914, the vigil service at Westminster Abbey (and now the rest of the lights out) should really take place at midnight... I need some clarification on this one please. If there was no BST in 1914 when Sir Edward Grey made the statement about the lamps going out all over Europe at 11.00pm why should the vigil service at Westminster Abbey take place this year at midnight? If we were on GMT on 4th August 1914 surely the equivalent of 11.00pm GMT this year is 10.00pm BST and an hour later in parts of Europe? Perhaps I am missing something here..........or is it a "senior moment"? Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Underdown Posted 28 March , 2014 Share Posted 28 March , 2014 You're going the wrong way, 11pm GMT is 12 midnight BST (spring forward remember)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waggoner Posted 29 March , 2014 Share Posted 29 March , 2014 No problem here in Canada to join in. It will be 8:00pm, the sun will still be shining and most of the lights will still be off. Interesting to see what they do about traffic lights! All the best, Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 29 March , 2014 Share Posted 29 March , 2014 The First World War changed attitudes, when in 1916 Germany advanced its clocks to increase industrial productivity. Britain quickly followed suit on May 21, 1916 with the adoption of double British Summer Time, putting the clocks two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). As Churchill later wrote, “It is one of the paradoxes of history that we should owe the boon of summer time, which gives every year to the people of this country between 160 and 170 hours more daylight leisure, to a war which plunged Europe into darkness for four years, and shook the foundations of civilization throughout the world.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 29 March , 2014 Share Posted 29 March , 2014 Professor Gary Sheffield isn't impressed Click Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghazala Posted 29 March , 2014 Share Posted 29 March , 2014 Professor Gary Sheffield isn't impressed Click Mike Love that picture of the female gas lamp cleaner in the article. My wifes grandfather had the same job in Ilkley, Yorkshire many years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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