When do the clocks change in 2024?

Our evenings are rapidly getting darker but they will be getting a whole hour darker very soon.

Clocks will go back an hour in the United Kingdom in the early hours of Sunday 27 October.

This will mark the end of British Summer Time (BST) and daylight saving, and a return to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

We will stay on GMT until 1am on Sunday 30 March 2025 when clocks will leap forward an hour again.

If you struggle to remember which way the clocks change, then this saying might help:

Clocks "spring" forward and "fall" back.

In other words, they spring forward an hour in the spring, and fall back in the fall (autumn).

The autumn change is often seen as the "good one" as you either get an extra hour in bed or in the pub.

Though it is not so good if you are a shift worker and have an extra hour at work. And I speak from experience on that.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) - the process of moving clocks forward by one hour in the summer - was started in Germany in 1916.

During World War One it was a way to save energy resources - fewer electric lights and less heating was needed in the lighter evenings - and boost productivity.

Weeks after Germany introduced it, other countries adopted the idea, including the UK, where it was named British Summer Time (BST).

During World War Two, the UK even had British Double Summer Time when clocks were advanced two hours.

This meant that during winter, while clocks went back an hour, they were still one hour ahead of normal (GMT+1) to increase productivity.

Since then there have been debates on whether British Summer Time should continue.

One of the biggest arguments to keep it is that road traffic accidents decrease substantially in the lighter evenings during summer.

Farmers also make most of the lighter evenings to be able work the land more.

Others argue that changing the clocks twice a year is like giving the whole population a minor jet lag with losing an hour of sleep in spring having an effect on our mental state, especially the day after.

There are currently no plans to change daylight saving in the UK.

In the northern hemisphere, most of Europe and North America observes Daylight Saving Time (DST). Egypt is the only country in Africa to also change its clocks in the summer.

Israel, Palestine and Lebanon also observe daylight saving.

In the southern hemisphere, only small parts of South America and Oceania take part.

Not every country observes the same date to change its clocks. In Australia, for example, clocks went forward (for its summer) on 6 October this year and in the US clocks will go back on 3 November.

And all but one location shifts its clocks by one full hour. Lord Howe Island, off the east coast of Australia, adjusts its time by 30 minutes, putting it in the same time zone as New South Wales during summer.