"Double Summertime"

[tony27437]

Am I the only person who can remember the time just after the Second World War when the clocks were put forward 2 hours as opposed to the one hour as at present.? I would be pleased if someone could say that this is not just a figment of my imagination.

[geofbob]

Your memory isn't playing you tricks. During the Second World War, the clock was advanced one hour (from GMT) during autumn/winter, and two hours - referred to as Double Summer Time - in spring/summer. For a full table, showng the precise dates of changes from GMT, for each year from the First World War onwards, see this website:

http://www.todd.demon.co.uk/other/bsttable.htm

[Farrukh]

Why was this done?

[tramcar]

I remember well the effect of DST. I was evacuated to Church Stretton, Shropshire for part of the war, and we used to pick Wimberries on the slopes of the Longmynd until 10 o'clock at night.

[ianess]

I vaguely remember this being tried out for a year or 2 in the sixties but it was discontinued because of the dangers of Scots schoolkids going to school in the dark. In Northern areas it wasn`t sunrise til about 10am. I don`t think my memory`s playing tricks.

[Obstreperous]

Double summer time was in effect when I was a schoolgirl in Scotland in the 60s. It was terminated for the reason given by is4748 - it was dark in the mornings when we went to school, and because of the latitude, when we came home as well. Way too dangerous!

[Lakeslass]

You are absolutely right.

[Big Al1st]

The reason was that you would have two hours of extra daylight during the normal day, which allowed people extra time working on the allotments.

[cuboid]

clocks were put forward 2 hours in1970