At the end of October, summer gives way for winter and we all grab that once-a-year extra hour in bed by putting our clocks and watches back. Have you ever wondered why? The Riviera Woman sent its tame techie out for a bit of research...

Summer Time, also known as Daylight Saving Time (DST) was first formally proposed in 1895 by a New Zealand entomologist (bug hunter) who wanted to make better use of out-of-hours daylight in the winter months. It was first adopted in Europe by Germany in order to save coal for the war effort, then by other countries soon after. The main benefits are to industry and commerce, causing wags to rename it "Daylight Slaving Time". Many studies have found small but significant advantages in adjusting the daylight period, though some sectors of the economy are more in favour than others (leisure industries are in favour, Scottish famers and parents of school children against). Politics often gets in the way of sensible discussion; Idaho senators voted for it because during DST fast-food restaurants sell more French fries, which are made from Idaho potatoes.

The dates on which clocks go forward and back vary around the world and the countries of the European Union only agreed on the same dates as recently as 1996. Clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October. Other countries still do it differently.

OK, so much for the dry facts and figures; what about the interesting stuff? Like, how do I remember if to go forward or back? I remember the phrase "Spring forward, Fall back" but that works just as well the other way round. For me there's a better way of remembering. Most people look forward to summer, so that's it. When summer is approaching the clocks go forward to make it arrive just that little bit sooner. Easy-peasy.

There are of course people who dislike daylight saving time. Some try to ignore the change completely, just as their ancestors might have done in centuries past, but it's actually pretty difficult. The modern world is regulated by television schedules and rail timetables and it takes a considerable effort to stick to a time zone that's different to the one used by everyone else. Anyone who receives British TV channels here on the Riviera already knows this; is it natural to view Coronation Street at ten in the evening, I have to ask?

You may have noticed that while you go round your houses and cars adjusting dozens of clocks twice a year, your computers silently and efficiently do it for themselves. This used to be fixed information programmed into Windows, making it virtually impossible for the date to be changed without forcing everyone to update their operating systems, but these days computers take the information from the internet; all you need is to make sure they're set to the right time zone.

There are some entertaining misconceptions associated with daylight saving time. Some have claimed that the loss of an hour in spring has an adverse effect on crops and farm animals (as if either of these can tell the time). Hens would become confused and not know when to lay their eggs. Others believe that night and day themselves are controlled by human beings, daylight saving being the evidence. High temperatures in March have been blamed on DST; one complainer even went as far as to claim it was an attempt to exacerbate the effect of global warming to make it a bigger political issue.

For those who haven't had enough, here's an amusing piece by Sheila Moss, Humour Columnist, on how to tell if it's DST.

[-P2-]