Greenwich Time Signal - the 'pips'

Picture: The original time signal generator as seen at BBC Savoy Hill studios in 1927.

It’s been heard on the hour on BBC radio since 1924, six short electronically generated 'pips' to indicate the precise time of the day, and it's still going strong 100 years on.

Invented by the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson, and the Director General of the BBC John Reith, the Greenwich Time Signal (GTS) heard on radio is now a much loved institution.

Today the GTS is to be found mainly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC local radio.

There are similar time signals broadcast across the rest of Europe too from RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland where there the 'pips' are of equal length, to YLE Radio Suomi in Finland where the charmingly named 'piipit' is still heard, has a big following, and has been on air since 1926.

The time signal in the UK was originally generated by two clocks at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, but since 1990 the BBC has been responsible for it. BBC Radio announcers and presenters do all they can to avoid 'crashing' or speaking over the 'pips', but occasionally things do go wrong. When BBC World Service regularly broadcast the time signal, it very occasionally failed to reach the air, and announcers were sometimes at a loss as to what to do. In this example a BBC World Service announcer quickly improvises with hilarious effect.