Cambridge's Corpus Clock targeted by hammer vandal

A man has attacked a famous clock in Cambridge with a hammer, said police.

Protective glass in front of The Corpus Clock, part of Corpus Christi College, was smashed on Saturday evening.

The timepiece, which has no hands or numbers, was unveiled in 2008 by Prof Stephen Hawking.

The college said it was "saddened" by the attack on the "iconic" clock. Cambridgeshire Police said an investigation was ongoing, but no arrests had been made.

A spokesman for the force said it was called to reports "a man with a hammer had attempted to damage the Corpus Christi clock in King's Parade" at about 20:45 GMT."The man, who was wearing dark clothing, ran away from the scene after causing damage to the protective glass," he said."Officers attended the scene but could not locate the suspect."

The clock was created by Corpus Christi alumnus Dr John Taylor.

Dubbed the strangest clock in the world when first unveiled, external, it features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time.

The grasshopper or "chronophage", meaning "time-eater", advances around the 4ft-wide face, each step marking a second.

Its movement triggers blue flashing lights which travel across the face, eventually stopping at the correct hour and minute.

But the clock is only accurate once every five minutes - the rest of the time the lights are simply for decoration.

Prof Ewan St John Smith, said: "The college is saddened that the glass case housing the iconic Corpus Chronophage Clock was damaged. The police are investigating the matter and we will repair the damage as soon as possible."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, external, Instagram, external and Twitter, external. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]