Clocks · Stage-prop clock
Comedy clock used in performance by Tommy Cooper, ca.1970
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- ca.1970
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Place
- Great Britain
- Object type
- Stage-prop clock
- Materials / technique
- Plastic and metal
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- S.746-2017
- Catalogue title (original)
- Clock
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number S.746-2017), this is a stage-prop clock, made in Great Britain, United Kingdom, dated ca.1970. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Plastic and metal. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
V&A — Summary
Tommy Cooper (1921–84) was one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers. Known for his trademark red fez, bungling stage persona and razor-sharp humour, Cooper’s career spanned almost four decades and saw him tour extensively with his comedy magic act. He appeared in his own shows, both on stage and television, and died during a live broadcast from Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1984. Although seemingly improvised, Tommy Cooper’s act was strictly rehearsed; his skilful pretence of error made the tricks’ final payoff even more impressive. His Head-Twister illusion was one of many props popular with audiences.
V&A — Physical description
White circular clock, with a plastic casing and clear plastic front. The clock features black numbers and black hands. It is battery operated and includes a hook at the top for hanging. There is a crack down the front of the clock, as well as running through the outer casing.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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