Golf brings us to William Willett, of Farnham in Surrey, who followed his father into the building trade. In their day, to own a "Willett" house was really something, and business was booming, so much so that the Willetts had a large estate in Chislehurst, Kent, with a stable.
Most of all William Willett loved golf, hence our card, though he hated having to race a round in the winter months, or, worst of all, to cut one short at dusk in order to get back to the clubhouse whilst he could still see it.
He pondered on this, and in 1907 he self-published a booklet called "The Waste of Daylight". We do not know if he knew of Benjamin Franklin`s and George Hudson`s work, but we do know his idea was different, and more akin to the earliest scheme we mentioned this week, where the clocks would be put forward by twenty minutes at 2 a.m. on every Sunday in April and then put back in the same way throughout September. And that, without anyone really noticing, would mean the evenings stayed later for longer.
In effect this was a brilliant idea, and it would be preferable to losing a whole hour all in one go as we do today. And our lives now are guided so much more by our computers and devices that we would only need to set a macro and we would probably never notice the change.
Somehow his ideas were better received, and by 1908 he had found a supporter, the M.P. Robert Pearce, but it never quite made it into law. Winston Churchill was also interested, and in 1909 the idea was examined by a parliamentary select committee.It again did not pass, but it must have been remembered as during the First World War, when there was suddenly a need to have more light to get more war work done, it was discussed again by Parliament and passed - on the 17th of May, 1916, with the clocks being put forward by one hour on the Sunday after, which was the 21st of May, 1916.
However there is something that I had to return and add, which I discovered after closing - and that was that Germany were already using the system, but very recently, their clocks having changed on the 30th of April, 1916.
Sadly by that time William Willett was dead, of influenza, on the 4th of March, 1915, aged just fifty eight, and buried in St Nicholas' Churchyard, Chislehurst.
His enthusiasm for the changing of the clocks was noted in his memorials though, a sundial in Petts Wood, where he so loved to ride, which remains on Daylight Saving Time all year through - and the name of the Daylight Inn, a public house not so far away.
Something else I discovered later is that he is the great-great-grandfather of Chris Martin, from the band Coldplay. And in such a way does the past become relevant, all over again.
Now there are two Revillon sets entitled "Les Sports", but the other is monochromatic and real photos, there is no way you will be mistaken between the two whilst looking for these colourful caricatures.
There is also an artist`s monogram on them, "TTT L". No idea who this is, yet.
Here is a list of the titles known so far :
- La Boxe - boxing
- Le Golf
- Le Football Rugby
- L` Automobile
- La Motocyclette - not certain this is sport
- Le Bicyclette - definitely not certain this is sport, there is a female passenger in normal clothes
- La Natation (diving)
- Athletisme (Saut en hauteur) - high jump
- Les Sports d`hiver (Le Ski) - ski jumping
- Les Sports d`hiver (le Hockey sur glace) - ice hockey
I am fairly sure this is it, and I know one of the missing ones is tennis