°

Daylight Saving Time Ends
 Ξ

Daylight Saving Time (DST)Daylight Saving Time Ends

DST this is what America and much of the rest of the world calls 'Summer Time'.  It's interesting that the USA uses the abbreviation DST, whereas the United Kingdom employs the full phrase 'Summer Time'.

DST starts on the second Sunday in March (not the last), and end ends on the first Sunday in November, (not the last Sunday in October). Another difference is that DST lasts for three weeks longer than Summer Time.

Daylight Saving Time Ends

  • 2011 - November 6th
  • 2012 - November 4th (Leap year)
  • 2013 - November 3rd

Daylight Saving Time Begins

  • 2011 - March 13th
  • 2012 - March 11th (Leap year)
  • 2013 - March 10th
†

Hilarious Daylight Saving Time Cartoons British Summer Time Ends

DST Dates

British Summer Time (BST) EndsBritish Summer Time Ends

It's always the last Sunday in October when Summer Time ends, and the clocks fall back.  The precise time on that Sunday morning is 2:00 am BST, which becomes 1:00 am GMT.

  • 2011 - 30th October
  • 2012 - 28th October (Leap year)
  • 2013 - 27th October

The key of remembering what happens to the clock is: 'Spring forward and Fall back'.

British Summer Time Begins

On the last Sunday of March the clocks spring forward, 1:00 am GMT becomes 2:00 BST.

  • 2011 - 27th March
  • 2012 - 25th March (Leap year)
  • 2013 - 31st March (24th would not be the last Sunday)
 ф

The Origin of British Summer Time

In many way the trains started it!  Once railways became popular problems arose with timetabling long journeys that moved through time zones.  Thus there was a need for a standard time, this became London time and then Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).  Summer Time came in to being in 1916, the idea was to make better use of daylight in the munitions factories.  My point is that without the standardisation provided by GMT there could have been no Summer Time.

Since 1916 there have been a number of attempts to tinker with the idea of the clocks springing forward an hour in March and falling back at the end of October; most notably double summer time in the 1940s.  Indeed in the Autumn of 2010 there has been a serious move to re-introduce lighter evenings in effort to save power and reduce road accidents.

 

Footnote
Please send us your stories about Daylight Saving Time (DST).

If you like this page then please share it with your friends

 

Calendar of special day events, days of celebration:

• Special day today   • Memorial Day   • Grand National   • Trafalgar Day   • Labor Day

• Midsummer's Day   • Festival days   • Father's day   • Lady Day   • Earth Day   • Remembrance Day

• 4th of July   • Pamplona Bulls   • Blackberry day   • Tomatina Spain   • Friday 13th superstitions