BRITISH Summer Time has officially ended for another year – with Brits changing their clocks back by one hour to mark the start of winter.
But why do we change the clocks twice a year, what does it symbolise and how did it start? Read on…
Do the clocks go back or forward tonight?
There is an easy wayto help remember when the clocks go backward or forward.
The clocks always go forwards on the last weekend in March, and back in October.
Thankfully, there’s a handy phrase to remember to avoid confusion – ‘spring forwards, fall back.’
Do we gain an hour in October?
Yes. Britons will be gaining an extra hour of sleep tonight as the clocks go backwards, signifying the start of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
This means the rest of the year and start of 2021 will see darker mornings after the clocks turn backwards.
But Brits lose an hour each March, with the clocks going forwards to put the UK on BST or British Summer Time.
Why do the clocks go back?
The first record of daylight saving time came from builder William Willet, who was “incensed at the ‘waste’ of useful daylight during the summer, according to historians.
Mr Willet said: “Though the sun had been up for hours as he rode his horse through Chislehurst and Petts Wood, people were still asleep in bed”.
He proposed the clocks changing in a pamphlet titled The Waste of Daylight which was published in 1907.
Sadly, Mr Willet did not see his idea come to fruition and died in 1915 – the year before the first change to the clocks came in 1916.
Nowadays, the clocks going back is a signal of the beginning of the winter season- and shorter, darker days ahead.
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