why do we put the clocks back it doesn't seem to make sense to me????

Answer 1

This is now real time GMT, UK summertime is GMT + 1. The reason for changing to GMT in the autumn is so it is lighter in the mornings which is especially important for children going to school.

Answer 2

It's more a question of why we put the clocks forward in the spring, taking clock time away from sun time.
The further you get from the equator, the earlier the sun rises in the summer, and the politicians (don't ya just love 'em) decided, round about the first world war I think, that having an extra hour of daylight in the evening after work would be better than having daybreak as early as 4 or 5 in the morning.

Answer 3

Get comfortable - this is a long story.

Before the time of the railways (in GB) each place pretty much had its own time. They weren't a lot different because GB is relatively small but were determined by the passage of the sun across the sky.

So mid-day (12 noon) was the point in the day when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. 12noon in Norwich would therefore not be the same moment as 12noon in Lands End because Norwich is much further East than Lands End, so the sun passes over Norwich before Lands End.

This arrangement was no good for scheduling trains - there needs to be a common time. This was agreed on in 1847 but Local time was restored as the standard by a court ruling in 1858. Anyway in the end in 1880 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was legally adopted throughout Great Britain and extended to Ireland in 1916.

However people's life styles aren't evenly distributed around noon. They tend to get up long after dawn in summer, but go to bed quite a while after sun set. (This has not always been the case, and as other people have said we are tending towards a 24/7 society in urban areas).

This means that we waste (so to speak) at lot of sunlight in summer sleeping - because people don't like changing all their timetables to make use of the time. So rather than everyone changing timetables, contracts, opening-times etc the easier solution to make use of the time is to change the clocks. So we can still say we have breakfast at 8am and catch the bus at 8.30am - but the sun is actually in a different place and the sky is that bit brighter when using GMT (ie winter time).

So we switch time between Greenwich Mean Time ('sun time') in Winter and British Summer Time in Summer essentially to make better use of the available sunlight.

(Actually because of variations in the Earth's movement the Sun isn't always at its highest at noon GMT, but this averages out over the year).

I guess the 'why' is basically a political/social question, but it is based on a compromise between time based on the sun and time based on life-style.

Answer 4

As well as accident rates, I think the idea being that you are not as corpus mentis first thing, as opposed to going home at 5, the main reason is to help farmers out.

Many farm duties happen in the morning, rather than evening. Setting the clocks back in winter would therefore help with milking cows and moving livestock about etc.

Answer 5

No sense to me either. Of all the countries in Europe, why does the uk have to be different, just because it's a little bit further north than France and others in the same time zone. If you move east a 1 hour zone to the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, they all have the same time right up to the North of Norway and Sweden, and they seem to manage ok.

Answer 6

originally it was so farmers got a longer day to work in daylight.. but I like the clock going back as I get to stay in bed with my girl on a monday morning cos I dont put the clock back till Sundays

Answer 7

It only makes sense at certain latitudes.

It only makes sense when you're burning candle wax, and want to conserve it.

In a 24-7 world, just set the damn clock back one-half hour and leave it there!

Answer 8

It's not that the clocks go back in the autumn - they go forward in the spring. GMT (October to March) is the natural time and putting clocks forward in spring was to create lighter evenings during WW 1. It started in 1916.

Answer 9

It is considered an energy conservation measure, on the grounds that it allows more effective use of natural sunlight resource in summer time. Since there is less darkness in the "waking day", there is less use of electric lights. Some opponents reject this argument. It is most useful in temperate regions, due to the considerable variation in the amount of daylight versus darkness across the seasons in those regions.

Answer 10

What ever the reason I wish they would stop meddling with time,I think changing the clocks started during the war