Here’s why we all put the clocks back each autumn
Those long summer nights now feel like a long time ago, with the nights slowly starting to become darker as winter approaches.
Households across the UK change their clocks twice annually in accordance with the seasons, moving them an hour forward or backward depending on the time of year.
At present, our clocks are currently operating on British Summer Time (or Daylight Saving Time) after being put forward on March 29.
But why do we change the clocks twice every year and where does the tradition come from?
The clocks are put back every year heading into winter to allow people to start and finish their working day an hour earlier, allowing them to have an extra hour of daylight after work.
However, it also means that people have an hour less daylight at the start of each day, which can be less practical in the winter.
Daylight Savings Time is also seen as an effective way of reducing energy consumption, with claims people will use less light and heat, although this logic has been disputed.
The idea of DST is believed to have first been proposed by British-born New Zealand entomologist and astronomer, George Hudson, in 1895.
Hudson’s shift work meant he could use his leisure time to collect insects and led him to value afterhours daylight.
In 1895, Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylightsaving shift.
This proposal gained considerable interest in Christchurch, leading him to follow the idea up in an 1898 paper.
British builder and outdoorsman William Willet has also been credited with the invention of DST, who campaigned tirelessly for the idea to be introduced.
Willet proposed that the clocks should be advanced by 80 minutes in four incremental steps during April
and reversed the same way during September.
Doing so would mean the evenings would remain light for longer, increasing daylight recreation time and also saving £2.5 million in lighting costs.
After his campaign, British Summer Time was established by the Summer Time Act 1916, beginning on May 21 and ending on October 1.
The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organised the first nationwide implementation of Daylight Saving Time on April 30, 1916 as a way to conserve coal during wartime.
Britain and most of its allies followed suit, while Russia waited until the following year and the US adopted DST in 1918.
Most places abandoned it just after the war ended, apart from Canada, the UK, France, Ireland and the USA.
It grew in popularity again
during World War Two and was widely adopted in the US and Europe from the 1970s as a result of the energy crisis.
Most areas in Europe and north America, including Canada and Mexico, still observe DST, but it is generally not observed in countries close to the equator, where sunrise and sunset times don’t not vary enough to justify it.
Some countries only observe DST in some regions, with only parts of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa, observing it, while Asia and Africa do not follow it at all.
This year the clocks will go back an hour on October 25, meaning people can enjoy an extra hour in bed as the clocks revert to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) at 2am.
In early spring, on March 28 2021, the clocks will be put back forward again and Britain returns to British Summer Time again