Search results
People also ask
When did daylight saving time start in the UK?
When does daylight saving start & end?
When did daylight saving time start?
What time zone is the UK based on?
When did summer time start in the UK?
When did the UK start using GMT?
In autumn (fall), the clocks go back as British Summer Time comes to an end and the UK reverts back to Greenwich Mean Time . But when did this practice begin, and why? British Summer Time, also known as Daylight Saving Time, was the brainchild of a builder from Kent called William Willett.
Explore 5 common myths about the clocks going back in the UK, including: Who started daylight savings time? What are its links to Coldplay? And does it only happen in the UK?
- Why Do We Have British Summer time?
- The Second World War and 'British Double Summer Time'
- Has British Summer Time Ever Been Changed since?
- Should We Change British Summer time?
- British Summer Time and The European Union
- Daylight Saving Time Around The World
- Interesting Facts About The Clocks Changing
The idea of summer time or daylight saving time was mentioned in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin, the American inventor, scientist and statesman. However, it wasn't until 1907 that a serious proposal for daylight saving time was made in Britain by William Willett. Angry at the waste of daylight during summer mornings, he self-published a pamphlet called ...
During the Second World War (1939-1945), British Double Summer Time - two hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) - was temporarily introduced for the period when ordinary daylight saving would be in force. During the winter, clocks were kept one hour in advance of GMT to increase productivity.
With the war over, Britain returned to British Summer Time except for an experiment between 1968 and 1971 when the clocks went forward but were not put back. The experiment was discontinued as it was found impossible to assess the advantages and disadvantages of British Summer Time.
Campaigners have sought a return to British Double Summer Time or a permanent British Summer Time to save energy and increase the time available in the evenings. An attempt was made by backbench MPs to change BST but The Daylight Saving Bill 2010–12 was not passed by the House of Commons. Opponents pointed out that in the north it would create soci...
The British Summer Time Act was created in 1972 which started the tradition of changing the clocks in late March (subject to the date of Easter) and late October. Twenty years later, the changing of the clocks in Britain was aligned with other European countries and from 2002 onwards, the EU stipulated that all member states should adjust their clo...
Currently, about 70 countries worldwide adopt some form of daylight saving, mainly in Europe and North America. For countries in the equatorial regions, there is little variation in the length of daylight across the year, with roughly 10-12 hours of daylight and 10-12 hours of darkness each day, so daylight saving offers no benefit.
Curator of the Royal Observatory, Louise Devoy, shares her favourite facts about the day the clocks change... "When the clocks first changed in 1916, there were concerns that delicate striking clocks could be damaged by people trying to force the hands back an hour. Official warnings and guidelines were printed in newspapers and magazines to reduce...
The starting and finishing times of daylight saving were aligned across the European Union on 22 October 1995, and the UK retained this alignment after it left the EU; [3] both BST and Central European Summer Time begin and end on the same Sundays at 02:00 Central European Time, 01:00 GMT. Between 1972 and 1995, the BST period was defined as ...
In 2003, the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents supported a proposal to observe year-round daylight saving time, but it has been opposed by some industries, by some postal workers and farmers, and particularly by those living in the northern regions of the UK.
In a trial known as the British Standard Time experiment, the UK kept Daylight Saving Time hours permanently from February 1968 to November 1971. Although the experiment resulted in fewer traffic incidents because darkness fell 1 hour later on the clock, it was found that there was a slight increase in incidents in the darker morning hours.
During the Second World War, British clocks were put forward an extra hour in the summer to maximise the benefits of natural light. The GMT+2 hours rule (Double British Summer Time), was repeated in 1947, when Britain was in the grip of post-war austerity.
