bvadc

I'm sure that I saw a clock at the Imperial War Museum last month that shows deaths from armed conflicts over some long period of time. The figure I remember is something over 105 million, or was it 150 million? Anyway, I have attepted to find more information on the clock, but have found nothing. I even e-mailed the IWM folks to inquire about the clock, as I have begun to wonder whether I saw it there or later in the day at the Cabinet War Rooms, though this seems unlikely. Can anyone out there confirm that this clock exists at the IWM and, if so, do you know where I can get more info on the clock? Thanks much!

Londonlover

yes the clock is on the ground floor of the Imperial War Museum

Betsy

Try to Google Imperial War Museum and/or Imperial War Museum clock.

bvadc

Thanks for the verification. I've tried about everything online, but nothing comes up that's helpful. I even have a publication that I bought at the IWM and it doesn't mention the clock.

jb

jsmith

I googled and found this:

http://news.ft.com/arts/travel/london/museums

7. Imperial War Museum
In this museum, which is housed in part of the former Bethlehem ("Bedlam") Hospital for the Insane, a clock in the basement moves remorselessly on, recording the world's war dead – a figure that has now reached 100 million. Six million of them are commemorated in the Holocaust Exhibition. Other displays include evocative re-creations of World War I trench warfare and the life of Londoners during the World War II Blitz. Now it is "total war" that we have to contemplate, and this, too, is explored.

bvadc

Ah, thank you so much!!!

bvawash

I'm just now posting a reply from an e-mail I received from someone at the IWM that I received back on June 22.

"The Cost of War clock was started by HM the Queen when she opened the
> 'new' museum here in June 1989. It is situated on the ground floor of
> the Museum at the entrance to the First World War and Second World War
> galleries.
>
> The counter below the clock reached 100,000,000 on midnight on the last
> day of the 1999. One hundred million is the approximate number of
> people that died as a result of conflict in the 20th Century.
>
> If this rate were to continue in the 21st Century two people would die
> every minute. Each rotation of the clock marks one death and since 1
> January 2000 the counter has added to last century's total.
>
> When I checked it this morning the number was 105,709,628."