There has been multiple sources of inspiration behind our musical. 

In 2000, there was a TV adaptation of the book starring Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons.

A stage play by Arnold Wesker was produced at the Greenwich theatre in 2005 and brought out the additional musical interests of John Harrison, bell ringer and choir master.

Jonathan Betts book has been helpful in the early stages of the creation of the musical. Curator Emeritus at the Royal Observatory (National Maritime Museum), Greenwich, a horological scholar and author, and an expert on the first marine timekeepers created by John Harrison in the middle of the 18th century, his book Harrison has inspired some of the story lines we chose for the musical. He was also expert adviser on the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses episode, Time on Our Hands, 1996 in which Rodney and Del Boy find one of Harrison’s ‘lost’ clocks, which is subsequently sold at Sothebys for £6.2m

Longitude has inspired a number of musicians.

•  The song "John Harrison's Hands", written by Brian McNeill and Dick Gaughan, appeared on the 2001 album Outlaws & Dreamers. The song has also been covered by Steve Knightley, appearing on his album 2011 Live in Somerset. It was further covered by the British band Show of Hands and appears on their 2016 album The Long Way Home.

• In 1998, British composer Harrison Birtwistle wrote the piano piece "Harrison's Clocks" that contains musical depictions of Harrison's various clocks.

• Composer Peter Graham's piece Harrison's Dream is about Harrison's forty-year quest to produce an accurate clock. Graham worked simultaneously on the brass band and wind band versions of the piece, which received their first performances just four months apart, in October 2000 and February 2001 respectively.

So it’s not just us…