The SPEAKING CLOCK

It was a sensation when it launched in 1936 and, nine decades on, some of us still call it to find out the time - precisely!

- JANE KEMP

She'd fought off 15,000 rivals for the 10-guinea (£10. 50) job, and on 24 July 1936, telephonist Ethel Jane Cain's big moment arrived. She made the first announcement as the voice of the Speaking Clock. 'At the third stroke it will be seven, thirty-six, and two seconds...' The famous 'precisely' would come at the end of each full minute.