Why 2000 may come too soon for Greenwich
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Your support makes all the difference.Greenwich has got the time wrong. The Royal Observatory, home to the line from which world time is measured, claimed Saturday as the 1,000th day to the dawn of a new millennium.
But its Millennium Countdown Clock in south-east London - part of a scheme to sell sponsorship of the days - has been launched 24 hours too soon, according to Christian Aid who unveiled their rival timepiece at Piccadilly Circus in central London yesterday.
A Christian Aid spokesman, Andrew Simms, insisted: "If you're counting the days we're the ones who are absolutely right." Midday Saturday was actually 1,000 days and 12 hours, he said. Moreover, although no one was available from Greenwich to comment, Mr Simms claimed that at least one of its experts had agreed.
The French, too. Jean Tiberi, the mayor of Paris, began the 1,000 jour countdown at midnight on Saturday by flicking the switch for a giant digital clock installed on the Eiffel Tower and flashing "J-1000".
When it was pointed out that the British had inaugurated their clock the day before, Mr Tiberi said he did not want to enter into a competition. "You could say today, yesterday, the day before," he said. "But I think the symbol is stronger tonight."
Christian Aid and fellow charity Jubilee 2000 were also keen to stress something more important than a few hours. They plan to use their neon sign, donated by the site-owners Land Securities, to flash up appeals for a one-off slashing of pounds 3.4bn of Third World debts.
Ann Pettifer of Jubilee 2000, which was named because a jubilee was historically a time to write off debts, said: "Cancelling debt is the biggest challenge facing leaders of the rich countries in the 1,000 days left to the millennium."
The charities believe 67 million drivers, 267 million bus passengers and 85 million people using the underground station will see the Jubilee 2000 Millennium Countdown Clock by the landmark date.
Except, of course, that everyone yesterday was speaking as if the millennium started on 1 January in 2000.
Officially, it does not, as the Royal Greenwich Observatory had previously pointed out. "The start of the new millennium is 1 January 2001 and not the year 2000," a spokesman said last year. "This does not mean we should not celebrate the start of the 2,000th year, but we should get the nomenclature right."
But that was before they had a clock on the wall of the Old Royal Observatory and companies happy to cash in on the commercialisation of time.
The Paris clock, page 13
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