John Harrison (3 April 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented a marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. His solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £2.89 million today) under the 1714 Longitude Act. Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
Harrison's marine time-keepers were an essential part of the plot in the 1996 Christmas special of long-running British sitcom Only Fools And Horses, entitled "Time On Our Hands". The plot concerns the discovery and subsequent sale at auction of Harrison's Lesser Watch H6. Probably my favourite Only Fools & Horses episode! Time to rewatch them all, I think!.
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