Contrary to rumor, the Tate Gallery in London is not named after the error-prone inventor, Professor Charles Tate. Profesor Tate is famous for creating a 'reprogrammable' electromagnetic compass which could be calibrated to point to any direction, not just magnetic North. Unfortunately, although the design was brilliant, problems with manufacture resulted in huge amounts of drift, rendering the compasses useless, and inspiring the phrase: "He who has a Tate's is lost."