“Spring forward, Fall back.”
British Summer Time (BST) starts each year on the last Sunday in March & ends on the last Sunday in October. In 2012, on Sunday 25th March the clocks will go forward at 1.00am, meaning we lose an hour; BST ends on Sunday 28th October.
Summer time changes on standard dates throughout the EU, so Britain & Ireland constantly remain an hour behind most of Central Europe.
In 1907, Englishman William Willett, campaigned to advance clocks by 80 minutes. He wanted to see four moves of 20 minutes at the beginning of the spring & summer months, with a return to Greenwich Mean Time in a similar manner each autumn. The following year, the House of Commons rejected a Bill to advance the clocks by one hour during the spring & summer months.
Summer time was first defined by Act of Parliament in 1916: clocks were moved one hour ahead of GMT from the spring to the autumn. During the Second World War, double summer time - two hours in advance of GMT - was introduced & lasted until July 1945. Since the 1980s all of western & central Europe co-ordinate the date & time of their clock changes; accounting for Britain & Ireland maintaining their hour behind.
2012: 25th March & 28th October.
2013: 31st March & 27th Oct.
2014: 30th March & 26th Oct
