Have you ever seen or heard the animated clock in the Grand Arcade? Andy Hutchinson spends some time going back in time to talk time!
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00:00It's time again for another edition of Leeds Then and Today with me, Andrew Hutchinson.
00:04And on the topic of time, have you ever noticed this in Leeds Grand Arcade?
00:09This is a pots clock. It chimes on the hour. Have a listen.
00:22If you keep your eyes and ears open, you'll know that this isn't the only pots clock in Leeds.
00:26In fact, they're on cathedrals, schools, town halls and as far afield as the Shetland Islands and Australia.
00:33But who were the pots?
00:35The story of pots clocks covers five generations of clock connoisseurs,
00:39dating back to 1790 when Robert Potts was apprenticed to a Darlington clockmaker before moving to Keighley.
00:46His third son, William, followed in his father's footsteps and eventually operated William Potts and Sons.
00:52The business moved to Leeds in 1862 onto Guildford Street, which is now the head row.
00:57Believe it or not, this proverb is not the original.
01:01It was changed in the 1960s from,
01:04Come what may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
01:09A quotation from Macbeth by William Shakespeare.
01:12The Grand Arcade clock was built in 1898 but fell into disrepair during the 1980s.
01:18It was revived in 2013, but today the characters no longer animate.
01:23But here's a clip of them in action a decade or so ago.
01:49It says time and tide wait for no man and sadly that's the case in this instance as we've run out of time.
01:56So for now, goodbye and see you next time.