The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country. The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring. The novel is dedicated to H. G. Wells and deals broadly with anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has an intellectual disability. Conrad’s gloomy portrait of London depicted in the novel was influenced by Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.
First US edition cover
Royal Observatory, Greenwich c. 1902 as depicted on a postcard
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the Prime Meridian passed through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and the clipper ship Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich.
Royal Observatory, Greenwich. A time ball sits atop the Octagon Room.
The Airy Transit Circle, used for over a century (1851–1953) as the reference point when charting the heavens and determining times, thus earning for it the epithet "the centre of time and space"
The building housing the origin of the Greenwich Prime Meridian, marked by the brass strip in the foreground. The apex of the roof opens up above the white vertical strips (joints in the eaves are visible) to allow telescopic star sightings to be made.
The Shepherd Gate Clock at the gates of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. This clock shows Greenwich Mean Time all year round, ie. it is not set to British Summer Time in the summer.