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HISTORIC clocks across Britain will be nudged into Summer Time by signals from an atomic timepiece this Sunday morning. Fifteen antique turret clocks have been fitted with radio receivers and automatic regulators to move their delicate mechanisms forward an hour without any pushing and shoving from clumsy human hands.

There is a growing shortage of people who are familiar with the workings of the large mechanical clocks on churches and public buildings, as routine maintenance tasks such as winding the clocks become automated. Yet they still need to be put forward an hour in spring and moved back again in…

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