Have you ever wondered where the expression O.K. ever came from?
According to local information it is an abbreviation
of the phrase Observatory, Kew.
In the days of Clipper ships a chronometer was
a vital instrument in navigation. A faulty chronometer could
spell disaster for a ship on the high seas.
When a chronometer was to be repaired it was
sent to the observatory at Kew to be mended and recalibrated
to the exact time at zero meridian.
Before the days of the Greenwich Observatory
the Kings Observatory in Old Deer Park played a vital role
in navigation. It has been said that were it not for the establishment
of the Greenwich observatory and Greenwich Mean Time we might
have had Kew Mean Time as the zero meridian.
When the chronometers were repaired they were
stamped with the letters O.K., which stood for Observatory,
Kew.
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