The sun never sets on the British Empire

     This is a discussion that I have had in person--the meaning of "the sun never sets on the British Empire".  What my listener refused to believe was that this was, at the time, simply a statement of fact. Britain's colonies and "spheres of influence" spread over nearly 2/3 of the globe--it was literally always daylight somewhere in British territory. For you of the flat-earth persuasion, the saying is just as true--just work it out using your pancake recipe, or however you usually explain such things.
    The date given for this quote is 1821, I think--but anytime in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries would do nearly as well.  We begin with England, conveniently also the start of time zones (zero is at Greenwich, England). Even flat-Earthers have time zones, don't they? You can work your way through the list of British possessions, including Canada, Bermuda, Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands, Australia, New Zealand,  South Africa, India, China as a sphere of influence, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma,  part of the Middle East as a protectorate, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, the former Rhodesia,  and others. Look on a historical map ( a map of the past )--there are 24 time zones. Britain's territory once spanned all of them.