diff --git a/src/calibre/db/__init__.py b/src/calibre/db/__init__.py
index 7a5c8d51d4..bb0f679fd8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/__init__.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def _get_series_values(val):
             pass
     return (val, None)
 
-def get_data_as_dict(self, prefix=None, authors_as_string=False, ids=None):
+def get_data_as_dict(self, prefix=None, authors_as_string=False, ids=None, convert_to_local_tz=True):
     '''
     Return all metadata stored in the database as a dict. Includes paths to
     the cover and each format.
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ def get_data_as_dict(self, prefix=None, authors_as_string=False, ids=None):
     '''
     import os
     from calibre.ebooks.metadata import authors_to_string
+    from calibre.utils.date import as_local_time
     backend = getattr(self, 'backend', self)  # Works with both old and legacy interfaces
     if prefix is None:
         prefix = backend.library_path
@@ -88,6 +89,10 @@ def get_data_as_dict(self, prefix=None, authors_as_string=False, ids=None):
         x = {}
         for field in FIELDS:
             x[field] = record[self.FIELD_MAP[field]]
+        if convert_to_local_tz and hasattr(self, 'new_api'):
+            for tf in ('timestamp', 'pubdate', 'last_modified'):
+                x[tf] = as_local_time(x[tf])
+
         data.append(x)
         x['id'] = db_id
         x['formats'] = []
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/search.py b/src/calibre/db/search.py
index f00b7102e7..98886b8fc9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/search.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/search.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from datetime import timedelta
 
 from calibre.constants import preferred_encoding
 from calibre.utils.config_base import prefs
-from calibre.utils.date import parse_date, UNDEFINED_DATE, now
+from calibre.utils.date import parse_date, UNDEFINED_DATE, now, dt_as_local
 from calibre.utils.icu import primary_find, sort_key
 from calibre.utils.localization import lang_map, canonicalize_lang
 from calibre.utils.search_query_parser import SearchQueryParser, ParseException
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class DateSearch(object):  # {{{
         for v, book_ids in field_iter():
             if isinstance(v, (str, unicode)):
                 v = parse_date(v)
-            if v is not None and relop(v, qd, field_count):
+            if v is not None and relop(dt_as_local(v), qd, field_count):
                 matches |= book_ids
 
         return matches
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/tables.py b/src/calibre/db/tables.py
index 412c937544..c8d974fcf7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/tables.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/tables.py
@@ -7,16 +7,37 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2011, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-from datetime import datetime
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from collections import defaultdict
 
-from dateutil.tz import tzoffset
-
 from calibre.constants import plugins
-from calibre.utils.date import parse_date, local_tz, UNDEFINED_DATE
+from calibre.utils.date import parse_date, UNDEFINED_DATE, utc_tz
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import author_to_author_sort
 
-_c_speedup = plugins['speedup'][0]
+_c_speedup = plugins['speedup'][0].parse_date
+
+def c_parse(val):
+    try:
+        year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, tzsecs = _c_speedup(val)
+    except (AttributeError, TypeError):
+        # If a value like 2001 is stored in the column, apsw will return it as
+        # an int
+        if isinstance(val, (int, float)):
+            return datetime(int(val), 1, 3, tzinfo=utc_tz)
+    except:
+        pass
+    else:
+        try:
+            ans = datetime(year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, tzinfo=utc_tz)
+            if tzsecs is not 0:
+                ans -= timedelta(seconds=tzsecs)
+        except OverflowError:
+            ans = UNDEFINED_DATE
+        return ans
+    try:
+        return parse_date(val, as_utc=True, assume_utc=True)
+    except ValueError:
+        return UNDEFINED_DATE
 
 ONE_ONE, MANY_ONE, MANY_MANY = xrange(3)
 
@@ -24,28 +45,6 @@ class Null:
     pass
 null = Null()
 
-def _c_convert_timestamp(val):
-    if not val:
-        return None
-    try:
-        ret = _c_speedup.parse_date(val.strip())
-    except AttributeError:
-        # If a value like 2001 is stored in the column, apsw will return it as
-        # an int
-        if isinstance(val, (int, float)):
-            return datetime(int(val), 1, 1, tzinfo=tzoffset(None, 0)).astimezone(local_tz)
-        ret = None
-    except:
-        ret = None
-    if ret is None:
-        return parse_date(val, as_utc=False)
-    year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, tzsecs = ret
-    try:
-        return datetime(year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds,
-                tzinfo=tzoffset(None, tzsecs)).astimezone(local_tz)
-    except OverflowError:
-        return UNDEFINED_DATE.astimezone(local_tz)
-
 class Table(object):
 
     def __init__(self, name, metadata, link_table=None):
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ class Table(object):
 
         # self.unserialize() maps values from the db to python objects
         self.unserialize = {
-            'datetime': _c_convert_timestamp,
+            'datetime': c_parse,
             'bool': bool
         }.get(metadata['datatype'], None)
         if name == 'authors':
@@ -89,7 +88,6 @@ class OneToOneTable(Table):
     table_type = ONE_ONE
 
     def read(self, db):
-        self.book_col_map = {}
         idcol = 'id' if self.metadata['table'] == 'books' else 'book'
         query = db.conn.execute('SELECT {0}, {1} FROM {2}'.format(idcol,
             self.metadata['column'], self.metadata['table']))
@@ -175,7 +173,7 @@ class ManyToOneTable(Table):
 
     def read(self, db):
         self.id_map = {}
-        self.col_book_map = {}
+        self.col_book_map = defaultdict(set)
         self.book_col_map = {}
         self.read_id_maps(db)
         self.read_maps(db)
@@ -190,13 +188,13 @@ class ManyToOneTable(Table):
             self.id_map = {book_id:us(val) for book_id, val in query}
 
     def read_maps(self, db):
-        for row in db.conn.execute(
+        cbm = self.col_book_map
+        bcm = self.book_col_map
+        for book, item_id in db.conn.execute(
                 'SELECT book, {0} FROM {1}'.format(
                     self.metadata['link_column'], self.link_table)):
-            if row[1] not in self.col_book_map:
-                self.col_book_map[row[1]] = set()
-            self.col_book_map[row[1]].add(row[0])
-            self.book_col_map[row[0]] = row[1]
+            cbm[item_id].add(book)
+            bcm[book] = item_id
 
     def remove_books(self, book_ids, db):
         clean = set()
@@ -272,17 +270,14 @@ class ManyToManyTable(ManyToOneTable):
     do_clean_on_remove = True
 
     def read_maps(self, db):
-        for row in db.conn.execute(
-            self.selectq.format(self.metadata['link_column'], self.link_table)):
-            if row[1] not in self.col_book_map:
-                self.col_book_map[row[1]] = set()
-            self.col_book_map[row[1]].add(row[0])
-            if row[0] not in self.book_col_map:
-                self.book_col_map[row[0]] = []
-            self.book_col_map[row[0]].append(row[1])
+        bcm = defaultdict(list)
+        cbm = self.col_book_map
+        for book, item_id in db.conn.execute(
+                self.selectq.format(self.metadata['link_column'], self.link_table)):
+            cbm[item_id].add(book)
+            bcm[book].append(item_id)
 
-        for key in tuple(self.book_col_map.iterkeys()):
-            self.book_col_map[key] = tuple(self.book_col_map[key])
+        self.book_col_map = {k:tuple(v) for k, v in bcm.iteritems()}
 
     def remove_books(self, book_ids, db):
         clean = set()
@@ -351,17 +346,16 @@ class ManyToManyTable(ManyToOneTable):
 class AuthorsTable(ManyToManyTable):
 
     def read_id_maps(self, db):
-        self.alink_map = {}
-        self.asort_map  = {}
-        self.id_map = {}
+        self.alink_map = lm = {}
+        self.asort_map = sm = {}
+        self.id_map = im = {}
         us = self.unserialize
-        for row in db.conn.execute(
+        for aid, name, sort, link in db.conn.execute(
                 'SELECT id, name, sort, link FROM authors'):
-            val = us(row[1])
-            self.id_map[row[0]] = self.unserialize(val)
-            self.asort_map[row[0]] = (row[2] if row[2] else
-                    author_to_author_sort(val))
-            self.alink_map[row[0]] = row[3]
+            name = us(name)
+            im[aid] = name
+            sm[aid] = (sort or author_to_author_sort(name))
+            lm[aid] = link
 
     def set_sort_names(self, aus_map, db):
         aus_map = {aid:(a or '').strip() for aid, a in aus_map.iteritems()}
@@ -404,22 +398,20 @@ class FormatsTable(ManyToManyTable):
         pass
 
     def read_maps(self, db):
-        self.fname_map = defaultdict(dict)
-        self.size_map = defaultdict(dict)
-        for row in db.conn.execute('SELECT book, format, name, uncompressed_size FROM data'):
-            if row[1] is not None:
-                fmt = row[1].upper()
-                if fmt not in self.col_book_map:
-                    self.col_book_map[fmt] = set()
-                self.col_book_map[fmt].add(row[0])
-                if row[0] not in self.book_col_map:
-                    self.book_col_map[row[0]] = []
-                self.book_col_map[row[0]].append(fmt)
-                self.fname_map[row[0]][fmt] = row[2]
-                self.size_map[row[0]][fmt] = row[3]
+        self.fname_map = fnm = defaultdict(dict)
+        self.size_map = sm = defaultdict(dict)
+        self.col_book_map = cbm = defaultdict(set)
+        bcm = defaultdict(list)
 
-        for key in tuple(self.book_col_map.iterkeys()):
-            self.book_col_map[key] = tuple(sorted(self.book_col_map[key]))
+        for book, fmt, name, sz in db.conn.execute('SELECT book, format, name, uncompressed_size FROM data'):
+            if fmt is not None:
+                fmt = fmt.upper()
+                cbm[fmt].add(book)
+                bcm[book].append(fmt)
+                fnm[book][fmt] = name
+                sm[book][fmt] = sz
+
+        self.book_col_map = {k:tuple(sorted(v)) for k, v in bcm.iteritems()}
 
     def remove_books(self, book_ids, db):
         clean = ManyToManyTable.remove_books(self, book_ids, db)
@@ -485,14 +477,12 @@ class IdentifiersTable(ManyToManyTable):
         pass
 
     def read_maps(self, db):
-        for row in db.conn.execute('SELECT book, type, val FROM identifiers'):
-            if row[1] is not None and row[2] is not None:
-                if row[1] not in self.col_book_map:
-                    self.col_book_map[row[1]] = set()
-                self.col_book_map[row[1]].add(row[0])
-                if row[0] not in self.book_col_map:
-                    self.book_col_map[row[0]] = {}
-                self.book_col_map[row[0]][row[1]] = row[2]
+        self.book_col_map = defaultdict(dict)
+        self.col_book_map = defaultdict(set)
+        for book, typ, val in db.conn.execute('SELECT book, type, val FROM identifiers'):
+            if typ is not None and val is not None:
+                self.col_book_map[typ].add(book)
+                self.book_col_map[book][typ] = val
 
     def remove_books(self, book_ids, db):
         clean = set()
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/tests/profiling.py b/src/calibre/db/tests/profiling.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6cff57f990
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/db/tests/profiling.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
+                        print_function)
+
+__license__ = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2013, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
+
+import os, cProfile
+from tempfile import gettempdir
+
+from calibre.db.legacy import LibraryDatabase
+
+db = None
+def initdb(path):
+    global db
+    db = LibraryDatabase(os.path.expanduser(path))
+
+def show_stats(path):
+    from pstats import Stats
+    s = Stats(path)
+    s.sort_stats('cumulative')
+    s.print_stats(30)
+
+def main():
+    stats = os.path.join(gettempdir(), 'read_db.stats')
+    pr = cProfile.Profile()
+    pr.enable()
+    initdb('~/documents/largelib')
+    pr.disable()
+    pr.dump_stats(stats)
+    show_stats(stats)
+    print ('Stats saved to', stats)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/tests/reading.py b/src/calibre/db/tests/reading.py
index fcf309ea66..eea8cd2eaa 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/tests/reading.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/tests/reading.py
@@ -385,3 +385,21 @@ class ReadingTest(BaseTest):
                 self.assertFalse(x.has_book(Metadata(title[:1])))
         db.close()
     # }}}
+
+    def test_datetime(self):
+        ' Test the reading of datetimes stored in the db '
+        from calibre.utils.date import parse_date
+        from calibre.db.tables import c_parse, UNDEFINED_DATE, _c_speedup
+
+        # First test parsing of string to UTC time
+        for raw in ('2013-07-22 15:18:29+05:30', '  2013-07-22 15:18:29+00:00', '2013-07-22 15:18:29', '2003-09-21 23:30:00-06:00'):
+            self.assertTrue(_c_speedup(raw))
+            ctime = c_parse(raw)
+            pytime = parse_date(raw, assume_utc=True)
+            self.assertEqual(ctime, pytime)
+
+        self.assertEqual(c_parse(2003).year, 2003)
+        for x in (None, '', 'abc'):
+            self.assertEqual(UNDEFINED_DATE, c_parse(x))
+
+
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/catalogs/epub_mobi_builder.py b/src/calibre/library/catalogs/epub_mobi_builder.py
index e31b9808b0..50c29cdbab 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/catalogs/epub_mobi_builder.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/catalogs/epub_mobi_builder.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata import author_to_author_sort
 from calibre.library.catalogs import AuthorSortMismatchException, EmptyCatalogException, \
                                      InvalidGenresSourceFieldException
 from calibre.ptempfile import PersistentTemporaryDirectory
-from calibre.utils.date import format_date, is_date_undefined, now as nowf
+from calibre.utils.date import format_date, is_date_undefined, now as nowf, as_local_time
 from calibre.utils.filenames import ascii_text, shorten_components_to
 from calibre.utils.icu import capitalize, collation_order, sort_key
 from calibre.utils.magick.draw import thumbnail
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ class CatalogBuilder(object):
             if is_date_undefined(record['pubdate']):
                 this_title['date'] = None
             else:
-                this_title['date'] = strftime(u'%B %Y', record['pubdate'].timetuple())
+                this_title['date'] = strftime(u'%B %Y', as_local_time(record['pubdate']).timetuple())
 
             this_title['timestamp'] = record['timestamp']
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/cli.py b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
index 5a888f672e..012d88dace 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def do_list(db, fields, afields, sort_by, ascending, search_text, line_width, se
         db.sort(sort_by, ascending)
     if search_text:
         db.search(search_text)
-    data = db.get_data_as_dict(prefix, authors_as_string=True)
+    data = db.get_data_as_dict(prefix, authors_as_string=True, convert_to_local_tz=False)
     if limit > -1:
         data = data[:limit]
     fields = ['id'] + fields
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/content.py b/src/calibre/library/server/content.py
index 45a46d6c56..cdc569f8b7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/content.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/content.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import re, os, posixpath
 import cherrypy
 
 from calibre import fit_image, guess_type
-from calibre.utils.date import fromtimestamp
+from calibre.utils.date import fromtimestamp, as_utc
 from calibre.library.caches import SortKeyGenerator
 from calibre.library.save_to_disk import find_plugboard
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import authors_to_string
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class ContentServer(object):
         Generates a locale independent, english timestamp from a datetime
         object
         '''
+        updated = as_utc(updated)
         lm = updated.strftime('day, %d month %Y %H:%M:%S GMT')
         day ={0:'Sun', 1:'Mon', 2:'Tue', 3:'Wed', 4:'Thu', 5:'Fri', 6:'Sat'}
         lm = lm.replace('day', day[int(updated.strftime('%w'))])
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py b/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
index 51bfca204a..767a48a9d9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/mobile.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from calibre.library.server.utils import strftime, format_tag_string
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import fmt_sidx
 from calibre.constants import __appname__
 from calibre import human_readable, isbytestring
-from calibre.utils.date import utcfromtimestamp
+from calibre.utils.date import utcfromtimestamp, as_local_time
 from calibre.utils.filenames import ascii_filename
 from calibre.utils.icu import sort_key
 
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ class MobileServer(object):
                                              no_tag_count=True)
             book['title'] = record[FM['title']]
             for x in ('timestamp', 'pubdate'):
-                book[x] = strftime('%d %b, %Y', record[FM[x]])
+                book[x] = strftime('%d %b, %Y', as_local_time(record[FM[x]]))
             book['id'] = record[FM['id']]
             books.append(book)
             for key in CKEYS:
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py b/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
index 36a65661d1..b4e5c7b265 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from calibre.library.server import custom_fields_to_display
 from calibre.library.server.utils import format_tag_string, Offsets
 from calibre import guess_type, prepare_string_for_xml as xml
 from calibre.utils.icu import sort_key
+from calibre.utils.date import as_utc
 
 BASE_HREFS = {
         0 : '/stanza',
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ ID      = E.id
 ICON    = E.icon
 
 def UPDATED(dt, *args, **kwargs):
-    return E.updated(dt.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S+00:00'), *args, **kwargs)
+    return E.updated(as_utc(dt).strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S+00:00'), *args, **kwargs)
 
 LINK = partial(E.link, type='application/atom+xml')
 NAVLINK = partial(E.link,
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/date.py b/src/calibre/utils/date.py
index 1a2289681c..0a8d779af8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/date.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/date.py
@@ -6,23 +6,47 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2010, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import re
-from datetime import datetime, time, timedelta
+import re, time
+from datetime import datetime, time as dtime, timedelta
 from functools import partial
 
-from dateutil.tz import tzlocal, tzutc
+from dateutil.tz import tzlocal, tzutc, EPOCHORDINAL
 
 from calibre import strftime
 
 class SafeLocalTimeZone(tzlocal):
-    '''
-    Assume DST was not in effect for historical dates, if DST
-    data for the local timezone is not present in the operating system.
-    '''
 
     def _isdst(self, dt):
+        # We can't use mktime here. It is unstable when deciding if
+        # the hour near to a change is DST or not.
+        #
+        # timestamp = time.mktime((dt.year, dt.month, dt.day, dt.hour,
+        #                         dt.minute, dt.second, dt.weekday(), 0, -1))
+        # return time.localtime(timestamp).tm_isdst
+        #
+        # The code above yields the following result:
+        #
+        #>>> import tz, datetime
+        #>>> t = tz.tzlocal()
+        #>>> datetime.datetime(2003,2,15,23,tzinfo=t).tzname()
+        #'BRDT'
+        #>>> datetime.datetime(2003,2,16,0,tzinfo=t).tzname()
+        #'BRST'
+        #>>> datetime.datetime(2003,2,15,23,tzinfo=t).tzname()
+        #'BRST'
+        #>>> datetime.datetime(2003,2,15,22,tzinfo=t).tzname()
+        #'BRDT'
+        #>>> datetime.datetime(2003,2,15,23,tzinfo=t).tzname()
+        #'BRDT'
+        #
+        # Here is a more stable implementation:
+        #
         try:
-            return tzlocal._isdst(self, dt)
+            timestamp = ((dt.toordinal() - EPOCHORDINAL) * 86400
+                        + dt.hour * 3600
+                        + dt.minute * 60
+                        + dt.second)
+            return time.localtime(timestamp+time.timezone).tm_isdst
         except ValueError:
             pass
         return False
@@ -150,6 +174,11 @@ def as_local_time(date_time, assume_utc=True):
                 _local_tz)
     return date_time.astimezone(_local_tz)
 
+def dt_as_local(dt):
+    if dt.tzinfo is local_tz:
+        return dt
+    return dt.astimezone(local_tz)
+
 def as_utc(date_time, assume_utc=True):
     if not hasattr(date_time, 'tzinfo'):
         return date_time
@@ -174,24 +203,27 @@ def utcfromtimestamp(stamp):
         traceback.print_exc()
         return utcnow()
 
-#### Format date functions
+# Format date functions
 
 def fd_format_hour(dt, strf, ampm, hr):
     l = len(hr)
     h = dt.hour
     if ampm:
         h = h%12
-    if l == 1: return '%d'%h
+    if l == 1:
+        return '%d'%h
     return '%02d'%h
 
 def fd_format_minute(dt, strf, ampm, min):
     l = len(min)
-    if l == 1: return '%d'%dt.minute
+    if l == 1:
+        return '%d'%dt.minute
     return '%02d'%dt.minute
 
 def fd_format_second(dt, strf, ampm, sec):
     l = len(sec)
-    if l == 1: return '%d'%dt.second
+    if l == 1:
+        return '%d'%dt.second
     return '%02d'%dt.second
 
 def fd_format_ampm(dt, strf, ampm, ap):
@@ -202,20 +234,27 @@ def fd_format_ampm(dt, strf, ampm, ap):
 
 def fd_format_day(dt, strf, ampm, dy):
     l = len(dy)
-    if l == 1: return '%d'%dt.day
-    if l == 2: return '%02d'%dt.day
-    if l == 3: return strf('%a')
+    if l == 1:
+        return '%d'%dt.day
+    if l == 2:
+        return '%02d'%dt.day
+    if l == 3:
+        return strf('%a')
     return strf('%A')
 
 def fd_format_month(dt, strf, ampm, mo):
     l = len(mo)
-    if l == 1: return '%d'%dt.month
-    if l == 2: return '%02d'%dt.month
-    if l == 3: return strf('%b')
+    if l == 1:
+        return '%d'%dt.month
+    if l == 2:
+        return '%02d'%dt.month
+    if l == 3:
+        return strf('%b')
     return strf('%B')
 
 def fd_format_year(dt, strf, ampm, yr):
-    if len(yr) == 2: return '%02d'%(dt.year % 100)
+    if len(yr) == 2:
+        return '%02d'%(dt.year % 100)
     return '%04d'%dt.year
 
 fd_function_index = {
@@ -240,7 +279,7 @@ def format_date(dt, format, assume_utc=False, as_utc=False):
         format = 'dd MMM yyyy'
 
     if not isinstance(dt, datetime):
-        dt = datetime.combine(dt, time())
+        dt = datetime.combine(dt, dtime())
 
     if hasattr(dt, 'tzinfo'):
         if dt.tzinfo is None:
@@ -260,7 +299,7 @@ def format_date(dt, format, assume_utc=False, as_utc=False):
         '(s{1,2})|(m{1,2})|(h{1,2})|(ap)|(AP)|(d{1,4}|M{1,4}|(?:yyyy|yy))',
         repl_func, format)
 
-#### Clean date functions
+# Clean date functions
 
 def cd_has_hour(tt, dt):
     tt['hour'] = dt.hour
@@ -307,7 +346,7 @@ def clean_date_for_sort(dt, format):
         format = 'yyMd'
 
     if not isinstance(dt, datetime):
-        dt = datetime.combine(dt, time())
+        dt = datetime.combine(dt, dtime())
 
     if hasattr(dt, 'tzinfo'):
         if dt.tzinfo is None:
@@ -340,7 +379,7 @@ def replace_months(datestr, clang):
         u'[sS]eptembre': u'sep',
         u'[Oo]ctobre': u'oct',
         u'[nN]ovembre': u'nov',
-        u'[dD].cembre': u'dec' }
+        u'[dD].cembre': u'dec'}
     detoen = {
         u'[jJ]anuar': u'jan',
         u'[fF]ebruar': u'feb',
@@ -353,7 +392,7 @@ def replace_months(datestr, clang):
         u'[sS]eptember': u'sep',
         u'[Oo]ktober': u'oct',
         u'[nN]ovember': u'nov',
-        u'[dD]ezember': u'dec' }
+        u'[dD]ezember': u'dec'}
 
     if clang == 'fr':
         dictoen = frtoen
@@ -364,6 +403,8 @@ def replace_months(datestr, clang):
 
     for k in dictoen.iterkeys():
         tmp = re.sub(k, dictoen[k], datestr)
-        if tmp != datestr: break
+        if tmp != datestr:
+            break
     return tmp
 
+
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/speedup.c b/src/calibre/utils/speedup.c
index 171179a88a..b05d8ee3c1 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/speedup.c
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/speedup.c
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@ speedup_parse_date(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
     long year, month, day, hour, minute, second, tzh = 0, tzm = 0, sign = 0;
     size_t len;
     if(!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &raw)) return NULL;
+    while ((*raw == ' ' || *raw == '\t' || *raw == '\n' || *raw == '\r' || *raw == '\f' || *raw == '\v') && *raw != 0) raw++;
     len = strlen(raw);
     if (len < 19) Py_RETURN_NONE;
 
     orig = raw;
 
-
     year = strtol(raw, &end, 10);
     if ((end - raw) != 4) Py_RETURN_NONE;
     raw += 5;
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ speedup_parse_date(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
     month = strtol(raw, &end, 10);
     if ((end - raw) != 2) Py_RETURN_NONE;
     raw += 3;
-    
 
     day = strtol(raw, &end, 10);
     if ((end - raw) != 2) Py_RETURN_NONE;