Did you know the months of July and August were added to the calendar in ancient times in recognition of Julius Caesar and Augustus, so that SEPTember then became the 9th month, OCTober the 10th month, NOVember the 11th month and DECember the 12th month of the year.

Did you know the world lost 10 days one September?

This was necessary because the seasons and the harvest were not occurring at the correct time of the year, resulting in crops being harvested when the weather was wet and cold and this led to ruined crops.

We have similar issues today, such as dairy cows needing to be milked some hours different from the time 30 to 40 years ago, apparently because of a 'time-shift' problem. This has become noticeable to us all in the UK as we no longer have dark mornings when we go to the office, university or school during wintertime.

An adjustment was implemented in 1752 after years' of scientific analysis, numerous calculation methods, and debate by the English establishment, to arrive at the best solution to overcome the problems with the harvest and darkness falling too early in the afternoons. The calendar was adjusted so that the 2 or 3 September was followed the next day by the 14 September. It is also of interest that the previous year 1751 was a short year, from 25 March to 31 December, as the New Year day changed to 1 January starting from 1752. I believe another correction was required a few years later following a revision of the time difference calculations used previously.

The 'leap year' was introduced (by Julius Caesar) so that the ¼-day fraction of each year comprising 365¼ days could be accounted for every four years by adding an extra day to the month of February, hence the 29 February. In fact, a year is itself less than 365 days and 6 hours, as it takes a few minutes less time for the earth to make one orbit around the sun, causing a difference in the length of a year when calculating using different reference points.

These differences have resulted in the time shown by our clocks being a number of hours different from the real time elapsed since the last major adjustment, which generally occur every 40 to 50 years. This is because each day is around 6.3 seconds shorter than the full 24 hours, which is caused by the sidereal day being shorter than our general measurement of time for everyday purposes. Over a period of a relatively few years, the difference accumulates and is to some extent adjusted by the addition of an extra day every leap year (that day itself being shorter than the full 24 hours). Currently, our clocks are hours different from the actual celestial time, estimated at around 4.25 to 4.50 hours.

Maybe two 2-hour adjustments in the next seven years and a leap year every 8 years starting from 2016 could solve the problem! These kind of major adjustments require global agreement and any proposed solution would need to be precisely calculated in order to arrive at the most efficient and least expensive option. A leap year every 8 years is unlikely to be acceptable because of the cost of the computer hardware and software changes required by 2016 (despite product replacement cycles) and not all countries would agree to adopt the new calendar.