Every year on the last weekend of March we adjust our clocks and watches to mark the change to summer time. But why change the clocks, which way should they go, and whose idea was it in the first place?

Why do we change the clocks?

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin jokingly suggested that the clocks be altered to accommodate the longer daylight hours in the summer.  However it wasn't until 1907 when William Willett, a keen horse-rider from Kent, published a pamphlet called "The Waste of Daylight" that people started to take it seriously.  This pamphlet outlined plans to encourage people out of bed earlier in the summer by changing the time on the nation's clocks.

Though the sun had been up for hours during his rides first thing in the morning through the local woods in Chislehurst and Petts Wood, William Willett was incensed at the 'waste' of useful daylight while people were still asleep in bed and spent the rest of his life campaigning for the introduction of British Summer Time (BST). He died in 1915 with the Government still refusing to back BST. But the following year, Germany introduced the system with Britain following in May 1916. We have been 'changing the clocks' ever since.

Is it the same in Spain?

Spain runs on Central European Time which is Greenwich Meantime (GMT) + 1 hour.  In most countries in Europe, BST is known as Daylight Savings Time (DST). Daylight Savings Time runs from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October every year. In the Republic of Ireland it is called Irish Summer Time (IST)

Which way do you change our clocks and how can you remember?

In the Spring the clocks move forward 1 hour, in the Autumn (known in the US as Fall) the clocks move back 1 hour. Many people find it easier to remember as:

Spring forward  -  Fall back