Last week the UK clocks went back for winter. Charity The British Sleep Society recently published a report which makes some controversial statements on the subject of time and how it relates to sleep patterns. There is an ongoing debate in the United Kingdom and in other countries about whether twice-yearly changes into and out of Daylight Saving Time should be abolished. Opinions are divided about whether any abolition of Daylight Saving Time should result in permanent Standard Time, or year-long Daylight Saving Time. The British Sleep Society concludes from the available scientific evidence that circadian and sleep health are affected negatively by enforced changes of clock time (especially in a forward direction) and positively by the availability of natural daylight during the morning. Daylight Saving Time (DST), or British Summer Time as it is widely referred to in the UK, consists of moving our clocks forward by 1 hour on the last Sunday in March and then back again to Standard Time on the last Sunday in October. Prior to the implementation of DST, the UK lived by Standard Time (equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time, GMT) for the whole year. Standard Time aligns closely with the natural light–dark cycles of day and night (solar time). This means that at Greenwich, the sun is at the highest point in the sky (solar noon) at midday GMT (noon time). By comparison, DST at Greenwich is always an hour ahead of solar time. DST was first temporarily introduced in the UK during the First World War after it was implemented by Germany and its allies. During the Second World War, the UK was even on double DST (2 hours ahead of Standard Time). The current arrangement of a regular twice-yearly switch of the clocks began in 1972 with the British Summer Time Act. Our body clocks, which drive our circadian rhythms (circa diem = approx. a day, thus any rhythms that have ~ 24-hour cycles), are essential for the correct daily timing of our bodily functions (e.g. sleep/wake rhythms, gene expression, hormones, metabolism, mood. What keeps them aligned to the 24-hour day is adequately timed light exposure. During the early hours of the morning, light exposure brings clocks and rhythms forward, while during the evening, it delays them. Humans have a natural tendency to delay, which is exacerbated by our modern lifestyle where we spend most of our time indoors and use artificial light in the evening, which tends to delay circadian rhythms. Therefore, morning light plays a central role in preventing our body clocks from becoming too late and in aligning them adequately with the 24-hr day. The custom of switching our clocks twice-yearly impacts our behaviour in relation to the timing of the opportunity for sunlight exposure. It is sometimes erroneously assumed that DST provides us with more sunlight but, in fact, all we are doing is changing our behaviour by moving our schedules forward by 1 hour. While this means there is an hour more sunlight after work/school, DST comes at an expense of 1 hr less sunlight before work/school, simply because we get up and travel to and from work/school 1 hr earlier. During summer, sunrise in the UK is early enough, so that for most of the population the reduced opportunity for morning light is only theoretical. This is because most people's natural wake time is much later than sunrise during our summer months. However, the possibility of permanent DST (beyond summer and into winter) poses a potential danger to human sleep and health, primarily because of the resulting lack of natural light during winter mornings. Sunrises in winter occur considerably later than in summer, so if we were to get up an hour earlier as DST demands, this would result in a lack of natural light in the morning before we start our day. This would reduce our opportunity to advance our body clocks and obtain adequate sleep. The position of The British Sleep Society, based on current evidence, is: - "Abolish the twice-yearly clock change to prevent the acute adverse effects on sleep, health, performance and safety. To advise against any proposal to impose permanent DST in the UK, which would create significant risks to public health and well-being that would be mostly born by the already disadvantaged regions outside London and the Home Counties. To strongly recommend the return to permanent Standard Time (GMT) across the UK. This will minimise any potential health risk from sleep and circadian disturbances". Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
The local area has a strong historic link with Charles Howard, the 20th Earl of Suffolk, which I think many readers will find of interest. Charles Howard led what can only be described as a colourful and eventful - if somewhat short - life. He was the son of Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk and his American wife, the former Margaret Leiter ("Daisy"), sister of Lady Curzon and daughter of the American businessman Levi Leiter. The 19th Earl was killed in World War I at the Battle of Istabulat, in Iraq. After leaving the Royal Naval College, Osborne at 15, he attended Radley College, but quit in 1923 to join the sailing ship the Mount Stewart as an apprentice officer. After his return from a round the world voyage, he was commissioned in the Scots Guards but was later asked to resign from his post by his superiors because of his "wild ways". In 1926 he returned to Australia; where he first worked as a junior cattle station operator, and later owned a large farm jointly with Captain McColm, who had been Captain of the Mount Stewart. The Earl was a great animal lover, and unlike many of his class he hated hunting and shooting, and was a keen amateur naturalist. In 1934, he married Chicago-born ballet dancer Mimi Forde-Pigott, with whom he had three children. The Earl enrolled at Edinburgh University, graduating three years later with a first-class honours degree in Chemistry and Pharmacology. In his early twenties, the Earl was made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. The Nuffield Institute of Medical Research at Oxford University offered him a research post in the area of "explosives and poisons". As Liaison Officer for the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research during World War II and was instrumental in evacuating the French stock of heavy water and radioactive isotopes that had formed the French nuclear research programme, just ahead of the German invasion – he also managed to liberate over $10 Million worth of gem diamonds and 600 tons of high quality machine parts in the process. For this and other escapades, Herbert Morrison, the Minister of Supply, later described him as "one of the most remarkable young men employed by the Government on dangerous missions." Morrison told the House of Commons that "A considerable service has been rendered to the Allied cause by the safe arrival of this shipload of materials”. Following his return from France, the Earl worked for the Ministry of Supply as a Research Officer learning how to defuse bombs of new and unknown types. The Earl served as part of an unexploded bomb detachment in London during the Blitz. The detachment consisted of himself, his secretary. Morden, and his chauffeur, Fred Hards. They called themselves "the Holy Trinity" and they became famed for their prowess in detecting and successfully tackling thirty-four unexploded bombs with "urbane and smiling efficiency." Morden stood by his side taking notes, as the Earl worked at defusing the bombs. On the 12th May 1941 Charles Howard was working at a “bomb cemetery” on Erith Marshes. A “bomb cemetery” was a place where bombs that had failed to explode, or bombs were transferred there after being temporarily made safe for transport, and then destroyed using controlled explosions. The Erith bomb cemetery was one of the largest in Greater London. The Earl was tasked with defusing a particularly difficult type of 250 Kg German bomb that had been dropped over six months earlier, and had been around for so long that the bomb cemetery staff had nicknamed it “Old Faithful”. The Earl attempted to defuse the bomb, but was killed along with his secretary Morden, and his chauffeur Fred Hands, along with eleven others who were nearby when he tried to remove the fuse, as it had been fitted with a type of booby-trap called a Zus 40 anti handling device. Sir Winston Churchill wrote of Charles Howard “One bomb disposal squad I remember which may be taken as symbolic of many others. It consisted of three people, the Earl of Suffolk, his lady private secretary and his chauffeur. They called themselves 'The Holy Trinity'. Their prowess and continued existence got around among all who knew and 34 unexploded bombs did they tackle with urbane and smiling efficiency, but the 35th claimed its forfeit. Up went the Earl of Suffolk in his Holy Trinity. But we may be sure that, as for Mr. Valiant-for-Truth, all the trumpets sounded for them on the other side”. In 1973 the BBC produced a television play on the life and death of Charles Howard called “The Dragon’s Opponent”. A memorial to the Earl can be seen in a dedicated stained glass window in St. John the Baptist church in Charlton. The 1979 ITV television series “Danger - UXB” which featured the fictional (but both historically and technically accurate) exploits of a wartime Royal Engineers bomb disposal team had an episode (“Cast Iron Killer”) featuring a bomb fitted with a Zus 40 anti-handling device just like the one that killed the Earl of Suffolk. I would strongly recommend that you watch the entire series of “Danger - UXB” (available on DVD from Amazon and other online retailers), as it makes very compelling viewing; despite the story being fictional, the methods used to defuse the bombs, and the situations the team find themselves in are totally accurate. The programme was titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by John Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series was filmed in 1978 in and around the Clapham, Streatham and Tooting areas of South London. You can see the episode of Danger UXB, called "Cast Iron Killer" online, which featured the efforts to counter the Zus 40 anti handling device by clicking here.
The 15th and 16th of October this year marked the 37th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987. The storm hit the London Borough of Bexley particularly hard. Something approaching 20% of the mature trees in the borough were uprooted or seriously damaged by the exceptionally high winds. I recall walking along the Woolwich Road in Upper Belvedere the morning after, and seeing a number of the large trees in recreation park down across the road – the fire brigade were cutting them up with chainsaws requisitioned from the plant hire shop in Nuxley Road - where the Animal Protection charity shop is located now. One of the very impressive Georgian houses opposite the Eardley Arms was seriously damaged (see the photo above - click for a larger view) – the whole third floor and roof were crushed by a mature sycamore tree that had fallen directly onto it. I recall reading in the local paper that the insurance claim to rebuild the historic house was greater than if they had demolished it and built afresh. Just as well the listed building was lovingly rebuilt, as it is one of the nicest residential properties in the whole of Upper Belvedere. My most vivid memory of the Great Storm was looking out of my bedroom window at the fury of the weather outside; some workmen had been laying a new paved pathway directly outside of my parents house. A pile of large concrete paving slabs had been made ready for the workers to continue laying them the next morning – these I saw flying through the air as if they were pieces of paper. Very worrying, as my parents house was right at the highest point in the area, leaving an unrestricted avenue for the hurricane to attack. The garden shed ended up in a neighbours’ back garden – very much like one of the opening scenes from “The Wizard of Oz”.
The end video this week is a short film about Christ Church in Erith - comments to me at the usual address - hugh.neal@gmail.com.
