Moving the clock in UK

Changing the clocks

In the UK, we all change our clocks and watches by one hour, twice a year.

In the Spring, we add an hour, and go onto what is called British Summer Time.

In the Autumn (Fall), we do the reverse, and adhere to Greenwich Mean Time.

When do the clocks change in the UK?

2009 Clocks move forward one hour on Sunday 29 March 01:00 GMT* (02:00 BST) * As the UK will be on GMT, we changed our clocks at 1 am on Sunday 29 March.

What time is it in the UK right now?

Clocks move backwards one hour. Sunday 25 October 02:00 BST** (01:00 GMT ) **As the UK will be on BST (British Summer Time), we will change our clocks at 2 am on Sunday 25th October.

Future dates 2010: the Sundays of 28 March and 31 October 2011: the Sundays of 27 March and 30 October

What time do the clocks change?

The clocks are always changed at 01:00 GMT (02:00 BST).

In the Autumn (October), as we are on BST (British Summer Time) before the clocks change, we change the clocks at 02:00.

In the Spring (March) we are already on GMT so change the clocks at 01:00

When is the UK on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)?

November to the end of March

At 2 am (01:00) GMT on the last Sunday in October, clocks move back by one hour for the end of British Summer Time. (We move our clocks back one hour from 2am to 1am)

When is the UK on British Summer Time (BST)?

April to the end of October

At 1 am (01:00) GMT on the last Sunday in March we move our clocks forward by one hour for the start of British Summer Time.

Summer time is from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October.

Why do we change our clocks?

We've been changing our clocks forwards and backwards in the UK since 1916. It's all to do with saving the hours of daylight, and was started by a man called William Willett, a London builder, who lived in Petts Wood in Kent (near our school).

William Willett first proposed the idea of British Summer Time in 1907 in a pamphlet entitled 'The Waste of Daylight'. Willett had noticed that the summer mornings light was wasted while people slept, and that the time would be better utilised in the afternoon by putting the clocks forward. After campaigning for years the British Government finally adopted the system a year after Willett's death.