Big Ben to be turned back to GMT for first time in five years

I hope you're ready to get confused over what time it is and when you need to get up tomorrow, because the season has come for the clocks to change - and this year that includes Big Ben.

At the grand old age of 26, I've experienced the clocks changing dozens of times so far in my life and it still confuses me.

I've tried the Americanised 'spring forward, fall back' phrase to help me remember, but every single year I find myself Googling 'clock change' when the snow starts to melt or the leaves start to fall.

This year, I can confirm that the clocks go back at 2am tomorrow (30 October), so if you're out at a Halloween party tonight or you're just a night owl, you'll gain an hour when the clocks spring from 1:59am right back to 1am.

For the first time in five years, London's Big Ben clock will be included in the change, with all four of its faces moved back to Greenwich mean time (GMT).

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It comes after the landmark has been covered by scaffolding for five years while undergoing huge repair and conservation work, which included the clock being restored and re-installed in the tower earlier this year.

While most of us will only have the odd clock or manual watch to change tomorrow, daylight savings is a much bigger deal for the workers who are required to alter the clocks at the Houses of Parliament.

It will take parliament's team of clock mechanics an entire day, aka 24 whole hours, to ensure all 2,000 clocks are changed before the change hits in the early hours of the morning. That suggests there could currently be some clocks in parliament that are already an hour behind, which I'm sure would cause some confusion to anyone hanging about there on a Saturday.

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The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said Big Ben's clock change 'will herald a new beginning' for the tower.

He commented: "While the rest of us are tucked up in our beds, our own father time [clock maker] Ian Westworth and the team will be clocking up eight miles changing our parliamentary clocks, including the one we love the most, the Great Clock of Westminster, better known as Big Ben.

“For the first time in five years they will be working with the clock’s completed original Victorian mechanism, so it is a significant final moment in the conservation of this magnificent timepiece.”

To ensure those walking near Big Ben tonight won't get confused, the workers will turn out the lights on its faces at 10pm before holding the clock for two hours. The team will then restart it again at midnight and put the lights back on at 2am.