Britain's recent heatwave broke the previous June record of 35.6C from 1976, with a provisional temperature of 37.7C recorded in Lingwood, Norfolk, on 26 June 2026. The Guardian asked readers to share memories of the 1976 heatwave and how it compares to today.
Shock to the Country
Margaret Waring, 87, from Cambridge, recalls the drought as unprecedented. 'It was a shock to the country because it had never happened like that before,' she says. Working as a geography teacher in Manchester, she devised a siphoning system with a garden hose to water her vegetable patch. 'We’d have to work out who would go in the bath first and not make it too dirty. We didn’t have a shower.' Margaret finds the current heatwave more uncomfortable due to higher humidity and pollution: 'The heat didn’t seem to be as restricting as it is now.'
Empty Reservoirs and Exam Ordeal
John Ellis, 72, sat his finals at Oxford in full academic dress during the heatwave, calling it 'exhausting'. 'The examination schools building was boiling... We were allowed to take off our gowns only!' After exams, he returned to Huddersfield to see reservoirs empty, including Ladybower in Derbyshire, exposing the remains of the submerged village of Derwent. John, now a crime writer, says, 'The sun feels stronger... we should have been cutting down on carbon emissions 25-30 years ago.'
Pregnant Without Water
Susan Gilliam, 79, was pregnant in a Crystal Palace flat. 'It was fairly awful... The only water we had was in the toilet. You’d turn on the taps, and nothing would come out.' After her son was born, she had to wash nappies in the toilet. A lorry delivered one bucket of water per day per household. 'You’d queue up with a bucket... that was it for the day.'
Grueling Military Training
Mark Hainge, 68, trained as an officer cadet at Sandhurst in May 1976. 'It just got hotter, and hotter, and hotter... People were ingesting vast quantities of water just to see themselves through the next eight hours.' He was jailed for dirty boot soles after melting tarmac stuck to them during parade. 'My “crime” was to have allowed the soles of my boots to collect some of the melting tarmac from the parade ground.'
Perfect Summer for a Lifeguard
Michael Keane, 71, worked as a lifeguard at King George’s park open-air swimming pool in Wandsworth. 'I couldn’t have wished for a better job... I had multiple rescues that summer.' The pool closed temporarily when water became too murky, but people broke in anyway. Michael, still a keen swimmer, now finds the coolest room in his house during heatwaves.
Sunstroke and Ladybirds
Tracey, 57, from Devon, got sunstroke twice as a seven-year-old. 'You didn’t slap on the sunscreen... you got burned, basically.' Her house had spring water, but she remembers school stickers on toilets saying 'Flush if you must.' Now living in Sweden, she collects rainwater in five 1,000-litre tanks. 'I don’t like to waste water even now.'
Susie Wardell, 80, recalls ladybirds swarming her houseboat on the River Medway. 'You couldn’t walk on it without stepping on them. There were just hundreds of them everywhere.' The infestation lasted two weeks. She notes, 'I haven’t seen one ladybird this summer.'
