The man who changed time
QUESTION Were the clocks put forward 20 minutes in 1922?
No, though in the early 20th century there were calls to put the clocks forward one hour and 20 minutes.
William Willett was a pioneer of Daylight Saving time. A builder and keen horseman and golfer, he believed most people were not taking advantage of the early summer hours.
While riding in Petts Wood, near his home in Chislehurst, Kent, he devised a scheme to put clocks forward one hour and 20 minutes. he proposed 20-minute increments over four weeks, but later agreed to a single change.
In 1907, he circulated the pamphlet the Waste of Daylight to MPs, education establishments, businesses and councils. he also funded speakers at town halls.
At first, his scheme was met with ridicule. ‘Will the cows give their milk earlier because of Mr Willett?’ and ‘Will the chickens know what time to go to bed?’ quipped journalists.
Yet by 1909, the scheme had gained a wide following and a Daylight Saving Bill had been drafted. In 1911, home Secretary Winston Churchill addressed a meeting at the guildhall in support of the Bill.
Willett died a year before the 1916 passage of the Act that saw the clocks advanced by an hour on Sunday, May 21, to boost wartime production. this emergency Act was repeatedly extended until the Summer time Act 1922.
Willett is remembered in Petts Wood by a sundial set to Daylight Saving time.
Rose Ullman, Bromley, Kent.
QUESTION In Star Trek: The Next Generation, what is the Klingon dish gagh, which looks like live worms?
SerPeNt worms are an invertebrate lifeform native to the Klingon home world of Qo’noS and are the primary ingredient of gagh (pronounced gawk).
they live in swarming pits, hence the saying: ‘Looking for a mIn [eye] in a gagh pit’ — the Klingon equivalent of trying to find a needle in a haystack.
gagh is best served live. there are 51 varieties, distinguished by their subspecies and how they feel in the mouth. torgud gagh wiggles, Filden gagh squirms, Meshta gagh jumps, Bithool gagh has feet and Litvok gagh crawls.
We first encounter gagh in A Matter of honour, a 1989 episode of Star trek: the Next generation. First officer Will riker is in ten Forward, the enterprise’s canteen, testing Klingon delicacies, such as gagh, pipius claw and heart of targ. he claims to like it.
Alan Sims, prop master for Star trek: the Next generation and Star trek: Voyager, made gagh on set.
‘I use weird, odd things such as octopus, huge squid tentacles and bizarre-looking dried Asian seafoods,’ he said.
‘Into this, I mix edible items, things you and I can stomach and find palatable, as opposed to a lot of these other revolting looking things.’
the best substitute for serpent worms are thick udon noodles. Wash down with Klingon bloodwine and the toast: ‘ IwlIj
jachjaj!’ this is translated as: ‘May your blood scream!’ IS THERE a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence. Visit mailplus.co.uk to hear the Answers To Correspondents podcast