Product Description

This is the story of Rupert T. Gould (1890-1948), the polymath and horologist. A remarkable man, Lt Cmdr Gould made important contributions in an extraordinary range of subject areas throughout his relatively short and dramatically troubled life. From antique clocks to scientific mysteries, from typewriters to the first systematic study of the Loch Ness Monster, Gould studied and published on them all. With the title The Stargazer, Gould was an early broadcaster on the BBC's Children's Hour when, with his encyclopaedic knowledge, he became known as The Man Who Knew Everything. Not surprisingly, he was also part of that elite group on BBC radio who formed The Brains Trust, giving on-the-spot answers to all manner of wide ranging and difficult questions. With his wide learning and photographic memory, Gould awed a national audience, becoming one of the era's radio celebrities. During the 1920s Gould restored the complex and highly significant marine timekeepers constructed by John Harrison (1693-1776), and wrote the unsurpassed classic, The Marine Chronometer, its History and Development. Today he is virtually unknown, his horological contributions scarcely mentioned in Dava Sobel's bestseller Longitude. The TV version of Longitude, in which Jeremy Irons played Rupert Gould, did at least introduce Gould's name to a wider public. Gould suffered terrible bouts of depression, resulting in a number of nervous breakdowns. These, coupled with his obsessive and pedantic nature, led to a scandalously-reported separation from his wife and cost him his family, his home, his job, and his closest friends. In this first-ever biography of Rupert Gould, Jonathan Betts, the Royal Observatory Greenwich's Senior Horologist, has given us a compelling account of a talented but flawed individual. Using hitherto unknown personal journals, the family's extensive collection of photographs, and the polymath's surviving records and notes, Betts tells the story of how Gould's early life, his naval career, and his celebrity status came together as this talented Englishman restored part of Britain's - and the world's - most important technical heritage: John Harrison's marine timekeepers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118031 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 480 pages

Review
Time restored can be enjoyed as a well crafted description of the horological contributions of an important persona of his time, but for the reader so inclined, it is much more, it is a sensitive portrait of a troubled, but brilliant human being, who pursued his horological and scholarly goals against the odds imposed by society and his era. Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, Sussex, NJ, December 29, 2006

Gould's life [is] more than adequately and very readably portrayed in [this book]... (John Hunter, Clocks Magazine, January 2007 )

Betts has produced a finely crafted biography full of lovingly observed insight into Gould's character, including his many personal failings. But the book is much more than a biography. Lisa Jardine, Nature, Vol. 444, December 2006.

Betts tells his tale very well. In addition to being a 'good read', Time Restored is a work of considerate scholarship; there are over 400 footnotes and six appendices including a bibliography reading list, and glossary. Most usefully there is a comprehensive index...Packed with information for the serious student of horology, there is also so much in this book for the general reader, especially those interested in social history. QP Magazine, Issue Twenty One 2006

... Time Restored like the works of the subject R.T. Gould, is an important contribution to horological literature. It is very accessible and highly recommended. Horological Journal, October 2006 It is very accessible and highly recommended. Horological Journal, October 2006

Horologist and author Jonathan Betts, the current curator of the Harrison timekeepers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, has crafted a chronicle of a poignant moment in the history of time. Time Restored, his extensively researched biography of Rupert Gould, brings back the man who brought back John Harrison's sea clocks. Just as Gould lovingly restored the long-neglected timepieces (now recognized as national treasures) Betts has taken apart Gould's tumultuous life and reassembled it in perfectly readable order -- sea serpents and all. Dava Sobel, author of Longitude, Galileos Daughter and The Planets

About the Author
Jonathan Betts
Royal Observatory
National Maritime Museum
Greenwich SE10 9NF

Customer Reviews

The Book That Has (Indeed) Everything.
It's all in the review I can add no more but if you have arrived this far then you presumably have an interest in Harrison, his 'clocks' and their saviour. Stay not your hand, fish out your wallet, it is an absolute must. I don't think I have read another biography laid out on quite these lines. Jonathan Betts' method of sub-division and isolation of essential information that might mar the narrative flow makes it a joy to read. And you can browse the technical content at your leisure.
If like me, and I'm in my cynical seventies you stood in the doorway at Greenwich and had to catch your breath before advancing on the four H's not forgetting the super K, you might need a copy in every room!

One of the best biographies I read, the best ?
Many of you have 'The Marine Chronometer' by Rupert T.Gould, seen it or perhaps is searching one.
Mine is from the latest(?)reprint 1976.
First edition came 1923.
Many are those who have tried and few have really come to a complete book.
This is the Bible of the The Marine Chronometer.
Not one word to add.

2006 was this book, 'Time Restored', released about the author Rupert T.Gould, written by Jonathan Betts.
That is one of the most fascinating and touching biographies I ever read. About anyone.
It's a formidable well documented and an adventure to read.
Poignant and informative about the person Rupert Gould, 1890-1948.
Nearly on each of the over 450 pages, you get astonished over something.
What a man and what a life, still in 'modern' times.
The word omniscient has never been more correct to use.
It's an amazing book, which I still remeber,
even though I read it in November 2006.
Time for re-reading it now.

Please, if you ever want read a good book, join me.
You don't even have to be intersted in Marine Chronometers,
it just strengthen the meeting with Gould, and was only one side of him.
Who ever yoy are, what ever your intersts are, as long it's about extraorsinary men, read this book!
It's a bargain !!