Getting your head around time zones is a perennial niggle for those of us who call internationally — but just be grateful we've moved on from the situation in the mid 19th century.

Until the advent of the railways, there was no such thing as universal time in the UK; GMT was determined much as it is now, but wasn't adhered to on a national basis. Towns and communities largely set their own time, which became slightly impractical when trying to draw up train timetables, and so GMT became widely adopted along railway lines at least, and in 1880, GMT became the national standard. For more, Joseph Myers has a detailed history on his website.

Other historic peculiarities in the British Isles include Dublin Standard Time (25 minutes behind GMT; used until 1916) and Sandringham Time (30 minutes ahead; created by Edward VII to allow for more hunting time in the winter, and abolished in 1936)

What does this have to do with maids and milking? Well, there have been occasional attempts over the years either to move the UK to CET (one hour ahead of the current time zone) in order to create lighter evenings. Organisations like RoSPA believe this will lead to fewer road accidents. On the other hand, lighter evenings mean darker mornings, which isn't much fun for the farmers…

Update: While we’re on the farming theme, don’t forget about Skype for Cows.