Every year when the clocks moved forward, my father used to tell my brothers and I that we owed this to a relative, William Willett, who came up with the idea of “daylight saving” (Looking forward to an extra hour in bed on Sunday? Time to thank a farsighted builder from Kent, 25 October). Willett’s mother, Maria (née Box), was an older sister of my paternal great-grandmother, the splendidly named Affability – both being among the many children of a Southwark waterman. There is a memorial to Willett in Petts Wood, London, with a sundial permanently set to British summer time.
Julian Harber
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

Paul Highfield (Letters, 26 October) should be aware that, like unhappy families, every seasonal affective disorder sufferer is sad in their own way. This one hates dark mornings with a vengeance – so much so that I have logged the sunrise/sunset times around the solstices and equinoxes for many years.

The worst of the dark evenings last about six weeks – sunset becomes earlier from about 15 December. The darkest morning does not arrive until 5 or 6 January, and the real difference is not apparent until February. If we were to keep British summer time year-round, the sun would rise at 9.30am-ish for most of January here in the far south-west.
Jennifer Gale
Littleham, Devon