Time, eh? There’s just never enough of it to spare.

It can feel like a mini luxury when the clocks go back (October 31) and we get an extra hour of sleep.

Of course, it doesn’t feel so great when the clocks spring forward (March 13) and we lose an hour.

The clocks changing is all part of Daylight Saving Time – which began over 100 years ago as a way to make sure people had more sunlight during summer working hours, as well as a way to conserve energy during the First World War.

We know it’s a twice-yearly ‘thing’ here in the UK, but does everywhere else do it too?

If not, which countries do change their clocks each year?

Do countries beyond the UK change their clocks?

Yep, indeed they do. It’s not just the UK – it’s a factor of more than 70 countries around the globe.

Most European countries, including France, observe European summertime (Daylight Saving) – changing their clocks at the end of March and again at the end of October.

The only European countries which don’t are Russia, Iceland, Belarus and Turkey.

Meanwhile, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand also observe Daylight Saving.

Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine are among the few Asian places which change the clocks – with major countries India, Japan and China opting not to.

In Africa, most countries do not use it – though the nearby Canary Islands, which are part of Spain, do.

Which country invented Daylight Saving Time?

Interestingly enough, the concept of changing the clocks wasn’t invented in the UK.

It wasn’t invented in the US either – despite a widespread belief that Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was the first to propose it in the late 1700s.

History shows that New Zealand’s George Hudson was the first person to propose shifting time – but with a two-hour jump back (and forward) instead of one – in 1895.

Hudson was an entomologist – someone who studied insects – and more daylight in the summer would’ve helped greatly with his research, allowing him longer outdoors.

It was seven years before a British man, William Willett, proposed the ideal to Parliament – even writing a piece about why it would be ideal for his golf game in 1907.

Sadly, he didn’t live to see his vision come to fruition less than a decade later.

And here’s a random fact: Willett was the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay frontman and ‘Clocks’ singer Chris Martin.

So, we know who suggested it, but who really kicked things off?

Time And Date cites the former Canadian city of Port Arthur, Ontario as the very first to try out Daylight Saving Time for real in 1908.

Canadian provinces caught out throughout the early 1910s – until it became widespread in Europe in 1916.

Most commonly, it’s believed it first began in Germany and Austria that May, as a way to cut down on expensive energy usage during the First World War.

Less energy would be expended if the armies had more daylight hours available during the summer.

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