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TALKS

OH Boyd gives talks on various subjects. These are illustrated and shown as a ‘PowerPoint’ presentation.
They range from 30 minutes to 2 hours in length but can of course be abridged to fit any time slot.
He speaks to a variety of organizations and no one is too small or far away as he enjoys doing so very much.
As he says,'I might not be very good looking but by Jove I can talk for England!'
In 2011 OH Boyd was proudly invested as a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers,
not that he is a clockmaker but for his Harrison Scholarship.

 

SUBJECTS

WORKING AS A SCULPTOR AND ARTIST

OH Boyd works mainly as a wood artist, his first love, and deals with the problems
and joys encountered with the large scale and intricate detail he uses.
He turned to portrait work when too ill for heavy work  (now resolved)
and to this end has an upcoming exhibition of 35 portraits themed, ‘The Eyes Have it’.
These eyes are featured either for their beauty, appeal or for the incredible events they have witnessed.


JOHN (LONGITUDE) HARRISON AND CAPT JAMES COOK’s
CONTRIBUTION TO OUR SOCIETY

Capt James Cook  and John Harrison together resolved the perils of being lost at sea, encountering unforeseen coasts or dying from the Scurvy.
A fascinating story of horrific losses afloat and the paving of the road to resolving the difficulties
where both men made vital contributions in their own separate and unique way,
ending in Capt Cook proving the Harrison watch as a sure and accurate way to find the Longitude.

 

THE LONGITUDE STORY

Mariners, when out of the sight of land are effectively lost.
Our Earth is a globe and to find our position on it we use a grid reference system involving a horizontal bearing (Latitude)
and a vertical bearing (Longitude). Latitude is a naturally occurring event that can be measured by taking readings from the heavens;
longitude however is not natural and relies on accurate time to enable the precise calculation to be made.

Many amazing and crank methods have been employed to predict the Longitude,
not just to protect mariners lives, (a secondary consideration) but to win the £20,000 prize offered in 1714 for its resolution.
John Harrison solved the problem using an incredibly accurate timepiece that also helped pave the way for the industrial revolution
and enforced Britain's superiority in commerce and arms, a task that took almost 50 years of intrique and perserverance to achieve.

 

THE HARRISON CLOCKS

A look at and explanation of the importance of all of this genius’s clocks together with the significance of his
incredible inventions that had far wider reaching consequences for mankind other than in timekeeping.

 

THE NEW ROYAL COACH ‘BRITANNIA’

The new royal state gold coach ‘Britannia’ has been built to bring royal coach travel into the 21st century with comfort and security.
The brainchild of  Australian coachbuilder Jim Frecklington it has more gold on it than any other coach excluding the
Coronation Coach and is built to a standard of finish that is absolutely breathtaking.

It is a microcosm of English history and contains relics of every tangible British historical event including the Doomsday book and the stone of Scone.
Diversely ranging from a Spitfire from the battle of Britain to a musket ball from Waterloo.
There are timbers from every palace, cathedral and diverse ships timber from the Mary Rose to the Ferriby boat, (the oldest in Europe).
OH Boyd carved the Imperial Crown atop this coach from timber from HMS Victory and he explains its construction.

THE ARGUMENT OF THE ‘RESOLUTION’ FIGUREHEAD

There is an ongoing argument about the subject of the figurehead of Capt Cook’s second ship, ‘Resolution’.
Was it a Talbot or a Seahorse or ridiculously suggested, a Unicorn?

OH Boyd has extensively researched this argument and come up with what he believes to be a reasonable
and logical explanation of why the confusion exists.