Why does The United Kingdom change the clocks at precisely 0200hrs on the last Sunday of October and March?

Question

What was the reason for Greenwich being chosen as the centre point for the setting of time across the world.

Answer 1

its to do with giving farmers longer daylight hours to harvest the crops started centuries ago before the intervension of combineharvestors when it was all done by hand

Answer 2

Harrison's clock was the reason for Greenwich being the nominal centre of time.
The reason for the clocks changing was that the time was set in winter whilst a more realistic point would have been spring or autumn/fall then there would only have been a need to amend the time by a mere half an hour either way.

Answer 3

greenwich was used because we said so. greenwich was the place where all clcokc were synchronised due to sea journeys, and to make the whole of the UK have one time. it was originally done to help with train timetables and troop movements.

the clocks change to make ful use of light...if we didnt scotland would be dark until 10am, and daylight would last only a few hours... which isnt any good for the farmers and industry.

back in the 70's we tried double british summertime... it was daylight upto 10.30- 11pm, and was light by 4am in the summer. however, as autumn approached we were going to school in the dark... it was pitch black at 8am...

England set the time and the place, because were English, and contrary to common belief we were THE superpower. we said jump, the world asked how high

Answer 4

Common sense. 2 am was chosen originally as the time of least disruption. The clocks are altered twice yearly to maximise day light hours.
The Greenwich Mean was adopted by the rest of the world as the universial benchmark of time - we didn't seek or ask for the recognition.

Answer 5

The clocks are officially changed at 02.00hrs as it is considered to cause less disruption to life at this time.
Imagine if everybody changed them at 14.00hrs or everybody could change them at any time on a given date what a mess for timetables and people travelling.
Greenwich was built on the longitude zero which makes it a natural choice.

Answer 6

If it was changed at midnight (0000 to 2300) then in theory you would be skipping a day (i.e. going forward 23hours not backwards one) and to cause the least amount of confusion 2am is a safe distance from midnight, but not too late to cause trouble for people the next day.

Answer 7

I have nothing further to add than the others apart from that it drives me crazy! It interferes with the children's sleep patterns and mine! I wish they would stop doing it altogether. I hate it when it gets dark so early.

Answer 8

its down to a fella called harrison who invented a timepiece a couple of hundred years ago. you have to have one point at which everyone can set there timepeices to.

Answer 9

i was told it was all to do with the second world war. something to do with getting dark early so the german planes have more difficulty to bomb. for many years now i keep hearing that they are going to stop this but they never do

Answer 10

has to do with drinking laws, in summer time you get 1 hour less drinking time, ie in clubs last orders are 2am, hence in winter you get one hour more....(it's cold you need more sprits in your body as it's cold.....so last night last orders were 3am!!)......hope this helps....hic..hic....hic...hic...