The Greenwich Time Signal (GTS), popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio stations. The pips were introduced in 1924 and have been generated by the BBC since 1990. to mark the precise start of each hour. Their utility in calibration is diminishing as digital broadcasting entails time lags.
Read more about Greenwich Time Signal: Structure, Usage, Accuracy, History, Crashing The Pips, Technical Problems, Similar Time Signals Elsewhere
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—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
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—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)