Why do the clocks change, will we ever stop changing them back and forward and why do we use GMT?

But why do we bother with daylight saving time, when do we have to wind our watches forward and back, and will we ever drop the strange tradition? Here's what you need to know…

Why do the clocks change?

We change our clocks to make better use of the daylight.

On the last Sunday in March, British clocks go forward an hour so that there's more daylight in the evenings.

But the clocks go back in October, so there's more daylight in the mornings and less in the evenings.

Will we stop changing them back and forward?

Europe is considering ending the century-old practice of daylight saving time.

Current rules mean every state has to switch to summer time on the last Sunday of March and switch back to winter time on the last Sunday of October.

But the European Commission proposals would end the practice, and a decision from EU representatives is expected by April over whether to stick with summer time from October 2019 or to make a final change then staying permanently on winter hours.

With Britain poised to leave the EU, it is not clear whether they would follow the decision.

Why do we use GMT?

On October 22 1884 the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London was announced as the site of the Universal Time meridian of longitude.

This meant Greenwich Mean Time became an international standard time reference point.

All the world's time zones are calculated from this point and all terrestrial longitudes.

GMT remains constant throughout the year. In the winter, the UK uses GMT for its local time, but in March, local time is moved forward an hour to British Summer Time (BST).

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