If you found yourself waking up this morning and questioning why your phone says one time, but your wall clock another, you’re not alone.
The clocks going back offer an extra hour in bed, but they also mark the start of winter and the long, dark nights that come with it.
So, did the clocks go back last night – and why?
Did the clocks go back last night?
Yes, the clocks went back last night – or this morning, to be precise.
At 2am on Sunday morning, the clocks all turned back to 1am, in turn giving us all another hour of slumber.
When do the clocks go forward?
The clocks always go forward in the last weekend of March, and backwards in the last weekend of October.
That means the clocks will go forwards on March 28, 2021.
They’ll fall back one hour on Halloween next year, October 31.
Why do we use daylight saving time?
The system is used to make better use of daylight, allowing more daylight in the mornings during the winter months, and less in the evenings.
The idea was first suggested Benjamin Franklin in 1784 when he suggested if there was more daylight in the morning, people would get up earlier and save on candles.
In 1907 the practice was introduced to the UK by builder William Willett – the great-great grandfather of Coldplay’s Chris Martin, after he wrote about it in a pamphlet called The Waste of Daylight.
Supporters at the time supported the theory that the change would not only get people up earlier but also save on costs as they would burn less coal.
The UK started using daylight saving time in 1916 during World War I, following Germany, who started putting their clocks forward in April of that year.
BST and GMT – what’s the difference?
When the clocks are one hour ahead – from the end of March until the end of October – this time is called British Summer Time (BST).
When the clocks go back, the UK switches to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Will clock changes be dropped in the UK?
The annual clock changes are a topic of contention, with many arguing they should be dropped altogether, leading the European Parliament to approve a proposal to drop the changes from 2021.
However, as a result of the pandemic, these plans have been put on hold for now with no clear timeframe on when they could be picked up again.
Moreover, any changes the bloc vote to make would no longer affect Britain, as it has already officially left the EU, as of January 31, 2020.
It’s unlikely the UK Government will raise this issue for some time, as they have more pressing things to get on at the moment, like negotiating a post-Brexit deal with the EU.
That hasn’t stopped an exasperated Brit from creating a petition to stop the clocks going back this year, arguing that ‘2020 has been a long, hard year for everybody. Lets not delay getting rid of it.’ [sic]
Sadly, only 537 people have signed at time of writing, which is short of the 10,000 signatures required for a Government response.
MORE: Do the clocks go back this weekend? Daylight Saving Time explained
MORE: Petition to stop clocks going back because no one ‘wants another hour of 2020’
Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Share your views in the comments below.
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/25/did-the-clocks-go-back-last-night-why-is-it-last-time-gmt-bst-13473476/