London is currently baking in a record-breaking heatwave, with the Met Office issuing a Red Extreme Heat Warning and thousands of schools shutting across the country. With temperatures due to climb to around 36C this week, Brits up and down the UK have been left applying sunscreen and desperately seeking out air conditioned spaces. While these extreme heat events are becoming much more common - particularly since the country experienced its all time high of 40.3C back in 2022 - many Brits will tell you about another time that they sizzled in famously high temperatures.
1976 heatwave: a historic scorcher
The heatwave of 1976 has gone down in history as one of the UK's most brutal heatwaves, and some of you may well remember it. That June, the mercury climbed to 35.9C - not too far off the temperatures recorded in London this week, exactly 50 years later. With no aircon or high-tech home fans back then, Londoners got creative, diving into Trafalgar Square's fountain - strictly forbidden nowadays, it should be noted - and dousing each other with water in Hyde Park.
Rediscovered photographs show just how sweltering the conditions were, from a heat-hazed Heathrow runway to a man literally leaping into the fountain. Bathers broke the rules and jumped into the fountains in Trafalgar Square on June 13, 1976. The heat finally got too much for these Londoners who couldn't help themselves, even though jumping in the fountains was, and still is, illegal.
Wimbledon and Heathrow feel the heat
A tennis player felt the heat at Wimbledon Tennis Championships on June 24, 1976. Ilie Nastase, a Romanian Tennis Player, was certainly feeling the heat at Wimbledon, where temperatures of 40C (104 degrees Fahrenheit) were registered on the Centre Court. Meanwhile, heat shimmers off of a runway at Heathrow Airport on June 25, 1976, as the airport recorded some of the hottest temperatures in the country.
Londoners find creative ways to cool down
Londoners sheltered under umbrellas during The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on June 8, 1976. Unfortunately the Royal Guards had to withstand the stifling heat in their uniforms. Another desperate Londoner took a dive in Trafalgar Square on June 13, 1976, seeking a cooling dip in the fountains to escape the heatwave. Rowers on the Serpentine in Hyde Park splashed each other with oars on May 7, 1976, finding their own fun way to cool down. West Londoners sunbathed in Hyde Park on May 7, 1976, though sunscreen was advised for those planning to copy them.
A man relaxes in the sunshine in Trafalgar Square exactly 50 years ago today, on June 24, 1976. Just like today, the heat 50 years ago was quite unbearable for some Londoners.
