WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 1 00:00:00.130 --> 00:00:03.630 This is a teasmade. And it is the most British invention. 2 00:00:03.630 --> 00:00:07.820 It's a combination alarm clock and electric kettle, which means it has two settings: 3 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:09.220 alarm, 4 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:10.660 and alarm with tea. 5 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.350 And like a lot of clocks that are built into appliances, 6 00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:17.150 so, clocks on ovens and microwaves, and old style clock radios, 7 00:00:17.150 --> 00:00:19.529 and central heating systems, 8 00:00:19.529 --> 00:00:24.810 this clock keeps time by using the frequency of the power grid that it's connected to. 9 00:00:24.810 --> 00:00:29.849 Or would be connected to, anyway, obviously I don't have power out here. 10 00:00:29.849 --> 00:00:35.000 Power grids on this side of the Atlantic run at a frequency of 50 hertz, fifty cycles a second. 11 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.930 Now that 50 hertz frequency might rise or fall by a tiny fraction 12 00:00:38.930 --> 00:00:43.050 as supply and demand affect the grid, but over the course of days and weeks 13 00:00:43.050 --> 00:00:48.280 the electricity companies guarantee that it'll be averaged out to 50 hertz. 14 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.940 So clocks like this, which have to be plugged into the grid anyway, 15 00:00:50.940 --> 00:00:55.530 can use that regular 50-cycles-a-second beat to keep themselves accurate. 16 00:00:55.530 --> 00:01:00.300 Set this to the correct time, and it'll keep the correct time as long as the power's on. 17 00:01:00.300 --> 00:01:01.360 Except. 18 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:06.120 Over the last month, clocks over in Europe have lost six minutes. 19 00:01:06.130 --> 00:01:09.200 If they're connected to the Continental European Power System, 20 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:14.770 which is one connected, synchronised grid stretching all the way from Spain to Denmark to Turkey, 21 00:01:14.770 --> 00:01:18.530 if that clock is connected to that grid, it's six minutes slow. 22 00:01:18.530 --> 00:01:21.240 This was revealed in a press release a few days ago from the 23 00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:24.689 European transmission operators' association, 24 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:27.990 who managed to write a press release that sounded vaguely like 25 00:01:27.990 --> 00:01:32.600 an angry parent who's getting close to the end of their rope. 26 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:34.880 The problem is politics. 27 00:01:34.880 --> 00:01:37.810 Serbia and Kosovo have fallen out with each other. 28 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:39.030 That is an enormous simplification, 29 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:42.469 but if you think I'm going to try and explain the history of the Balkan politics system 30 00:01:42.469 --> 00:01:46.159 while holding a teasmade, er, you are sorely mistaken. 31 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.429 Kosovo is low on power, Serbia isn't helping manage it, 32 00:01:49.429 --> 00:01:53.240 and as a result the entire European grid has been slightly underpowered 33 00:01:53.240 --> 00:01:55.240 since the middle of January. 34 00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:58.960 Not by much -- but enough that the average grid frequency 35 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:02.590 has dropped from 50 hertz to 49.996. 36 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:04.490 So clocks like this, who are expecting 50... 37 00:02:04.490 --> 00:02:06.420 okay, it doesn't sound like much, 38 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:11.420 but it works out to them losing six minutes over the last couple of months. 39 00:02:11.420 --> 00:02:14.480 Problem number one is getting the grid back up to frequency, 40 00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:16.700 and hopefully politics will solve that. 41 00:02:16.700 --> 00:02:19.600 But problem number two is: when it is fixed, 42 00:02:19.600 --> 00:02:23.030 should the European authorities bring the grid back to 50? 43 00:02:23.030 --> 00:02:25.500 Or should they run it slightly fast for a few weeks? 44 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:29.900 If they do, it'll bring everything back that wasn't manually corrected... 45 00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:32.040 but anyone who has already changed their clocks 46 00:02:32.040 --> 00:02:34.610 will then find them starting to run six minutes fast. 47 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:36.350 And they'll have to change them again. 48 00:02:36.350 --> 00:02:39.870 They're probably going to pick the second option, but who knows? 49 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:43.200 Fortunately for me, I don't have to worry about it. 50 00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:46.610 As I'm sure 52% of Britons will be ecstatic to hear, 51 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:51.310 the mainland European grid is not synchronised to the British National Grid here. 52 00:02:51.310 --> 00:02:54.550 It is connected, through two undersea cables, 53 00:02:54.550 --> 00:02:56.680 one under the English Channel from France, 54 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:00.380 and the other one from the Netherlands, landing right here, 55 00:03:00.380 --> 00:03:02.530 on the Isle of Grain, which is near... 56 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.320 nowhere. It's... it's absolutely in the middle of nowhere. 57 00:03:08.330 --> 00:03:12.310 But these cables are direct current cables, not alternating current. 58 00:03:12.310 --> 00:03:15.030 They doesn't require grid synchronisation. 59 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:17.180 So while mainland Europe's grid is slow, 60 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:21.390 our British grid is going at 50 British cycles a second, 61 00:03:21.390 --> 00:03:24.740 as Her Majesty intended. ["God Save the Queen" plays] 62 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:27.550 Our... our ovens are turning on at the right time. 63 00:03:27.550 --> 00:03:30.700 Our clock radios are remaining on time. 64 00:03:30.700 --> 00:03:33.720 Our... our microwaves are showing the correct time! 65 00:03:33.720 --> 00:03:36.980 [Music stops] Or they're showing 12:00 because no-one's bothered to program them, 66 00:03:36.980 --> 00:03:38.880 but that's not the point, the point is, [Music resumes] 67 00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:44.010 the clocks may be going slow all over Europe, but here in Britain, 68 00:03:44.010 --> 00:03:47.560 our teasmades are boiling precisely on schedule. 69 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:49.950 God Save the Queen. 70 00:03:49.950 --> 00:03:53.700 And god help us all. 71 00:03:57.140 --> 00:03:58.320 Good! 72 00:03:58.320 --> 00:03:59.780 I think that's a take.