It's not long now until spring officially begins and the clocks go forward. Starting from tonight, we will be saying goodbye to Greenwich Mean Time and hello to British Summer Time, leading to more daylight in the evenings.
Unfortunately, this also means that you're going to get an hour less in bed tonight so it might be a good idea to get tucked in an hour early if you have to be up early. It's always a bit confusing when the clocks change and many people can get caught out all too easily.
If you have an analogue clock you will need to adjust the time on it yourself, or you can just leave it and add an extra hour in your head until the clocks go back again in autumn. But, if you have an electronic device then you shouldn't need to put any effort into changing the time on it.
Read more:
However, this is not always the case and it's worth doing a precautionary check to your phone or laptop to make sure it's set to adjust the time automatically as many devices may not have these features as standard.
The general rule of thumb is that if your phone or laptop is connected to the internet via data or WiFi then it will change the time automatically at 1am on Sunday morning. Both android and iOS smartphones should change their time automatically straight out of the box, but there are some cases where the setting may be turned off.
To fix this just simply head into your settings menu and check 'date and time'. On this menu you should be able to spot the option to turn on automatic changes for daylight savings, once this is turned on your phone will change the time automatically so you don't have to worry about your alarm going off too early in the morning.
Why do the clocks go forward?
The changing of the clocks goes back centuries and the initial idea was to save energy and get people out of their homes and into the big outdoors to enjoy the daylight hours.
In 1784, it was Benjamin Franklin who first campaigned to change the clocks whilst he was in Paris.
His belief was that if people got out of bed earlier, they'd get extra daylight. And he makes a good point.
However, it wasn't until 1916 that it was properly implemented in the UK when the first Daylight Saving Bill was brought before the House of Commons.
This is because despite it being discussed for a number of years, it was opposed the first time round.
In 1907, a man named William Willett wrote a whole pamphlet about how people wasted valuable hours of light during the summer called 'The Waste of Daylight'.
As a keen golfer, he himself would become annoyed when it got too dark in the evening and he would have to stop play.
He, however, didn't get to see the change happen as he sadly died in 1915.
Click here for the latest headlines from the Manchester Evening News
.jpg?w=600)
