28-10-2019, 10:30 AM
(28-10-2019, 08:22 AM)Old Sparky Wrote: Many years ago, back in the early 60s, ... the clocks, then as now, IIRC, were altered at 2AM on the Sunday concerned.
[panto mode] Oh no they didn't! [/panto mode]
Back in the 60s, the time change occurred at 0200 GMT, so the clocks went forward from 2am GMT to 3am BST and back again from 3am BST to 2am GMT.
Then, around 1980, Europe decided to adopt Daylight Saving Time, which they decided to do at 0200 CET! However, and much more confusing, was that we used some obscure arcane formula - probably based on phases of the moon - to determine on which two Sundays the changes occurred. Europe adopted a much more sensible approach and used the last Sunday in March and October.
Eventually, common sense prevailed and we decided (or, perhaps, the EU decided for us) to come into line with the rest of Europe. But this also means that the time change now occurs at 0200 CET which is 0100 GMT, we we now go forward from 1am to 2am and back from 2am to 1am.
Our central heating programmer changed seamlessly yesterday morning as so many other devices do. There must be large numbers of programmers out there who would be terrified if they realised how complex such a simple change would have been in years gone by.
