using System;

using System.Linq;

using System.Globalization;

​

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        Console.WriteLine("Default culture: " + CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name);

        Console.WriteLine("Parsed using default culture  = " + DateTime.Parse("01-08-2014").ToString("u"));

        Console.WriteLine("Parsed using UK-specific culture = " + ToDate("01-08-2014").ToString("u"));

    }

    public static DateTime ToDate(object readField)

    {

        DateTime dt = DateTime.MinValue;

        if ((readField != null))

        {

            readField = readField.ToString().Replace("/", "-");

            System.Globalization.CultureInfo ukCulture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-GB");

            if (DateTime.TryParseExact(readField.ToString(), new string[] { "dd-MM-yy hh:mm:ss", "dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm:ss", "dd-MM-yyyy", "d-M-yyyy", "d-M-yyyy h:mm:ss tt", "d-M-yyyy H:mm", "d-M-yyyy hh:mm tt" }, ukCulture.DateTimeFormat, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))

            {

                return dt;

            }

        }

        return dt;

    }

}