28/10/2023
Meh … and then it’s dark! see you next year BST! 🙁
Bye DST! It’s an essay but worth the read! I think anyway! 🥰
So … I always thought it was to do with farming and kids going to school! Well … apparently not! It’s all down to a london builder and his love of golf!
William Willett wasn’t the first to propose a shifting of time to allow for more sunshine hours. History books prove that such measures were carried out by ancient civilisations, while the idea was also put forward by entomologist George Hunter in 1895, but the New Zealanders’ calls fell on deaf ears. Fast forward six years, and King Edward VII would change the clocks at Sandringham by half an hour so he could hunt for longer.
But it wasn’t until Willett, and his self-published 1907 pamphlet, The Waste of Daylight, that DST would come to pass as law.
He noted that, in April of each year, time should be moved forward by 20 minutes on four separate occasions throughout the month, with the process reversed in September.
Willett said the changes would allow for lighter evenings across the land, which would result in lower fuel bills. But, crucially, like King Edward VII before him, it would allow him to enjoy his favourite pastime – golf – long into the evenings following a day of work.
Willett had the backing of some serious heavyweight politicians like Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George (my relo!)
But those opposed to the idea included, crucially, then Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and the bill was defeated in 1909. Willett continued to campaign for DST across the UK, Europe, and the United States until he died of influenza in 1915.
A year later, his plans became law when Britain suffered a coal crisis during World War I and the government needed longer evenings and lessen the demand for coal-powered energy. The Summer Time Act was passed in May 1916, a little more than a year after Willett’s death, with much of the world following suit soon after.
So next time you’re heading for the sunset surf or a sun downer 18 holes, we know who to thank or who not too depending on the time of the year!! 😂
