h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why does summertime begin one hour later in UK and Ireland than anywhere else on similar longidtude in the EC?

Hello Zinnerman, and welcome to h2g2, I am sure one of the official greeters, an ACE will be along to welcome you shortly.
I am not certain, but think it is something to do with allowing kids going to school at certain times of year to do so in daylight.I believe it was a long time ago they decide to be differant, as I say I am not 100% certain though!

Which other European countries are you referring to? Europe mainland is in a different time zone from Great Britain, it is at least an hour ahead anyway, so summertime starts at least an hour earlier than in GB.

Both answers slightly misleading, take a look at Portugal, on the European mainland but in the same timezone as the UK.

So when does Portugal switch to summertime then? Different from the UK?

Normally on the same day, but I remember one year living there when it was a week later. Used to confuse the hell out of tourists who had the 'Europe is 1 hour ahead' mindset.

A whole week? Good grief.

The OP is implying that they switch over an hour earlier than the UK, though, do you remember that?

From what I recall from the UK, the changeover is from 2-3am. From living in Portugal & in Cyprus, they both tend to do it from 1-2am (Cyprus 2 hours later than UK), so I suppose they both do it an hour earlier than the UK. As to why, I have no idea!

Obviously, the jump from midnight to 2am is a bit more than most countries can deal with.

I could imagine that it would disrupt train travelling less on the main land if all countries switch to summertime at the same time, so it seems logical to me for those countries which are at GT to switch over when the rest with GT +1 does.