
As roads melt, workers are sent home and schools close, the country has ground to a halt while it sizzles in scorching temperatures not seen since the gruelling summer of 1976.

Britons sweltered yesterday as temperatures hit 94F (34.5C) at Heathrow - the second hottest June day since records began 167 years ago and the highest since the 96F (35.6C) recorded in Southampton on June 28, 1976.



The record-breaking summer of 1976 saw nine weeks of blazing heat as 400 people were treated in a single day for sun exposure, Big Ben suffered its first and only major breakdown and spectators suffered heatstroke and ballboys fainted as the mercury reached 34.6C at the Wimbledon championships.

In the course of a First Division match between Manchester City and Aston Villa on August 25, City players collectively lost 4st in weight and captain, Mike Doyle, called for an end to ‘summer soccer’.

A farmer's wife said Britain 'had a glimpse of doomsday' as residents were besieged by a drought and the Metropolitan Police dealt with 600 more daily calls than normal to domestic disturbances, as tempers melted.

And as Britain remains in the grip of another heatwave, this week beleaguered emergency services have seen a deluge of casualties across the country requiring treatment for heat stroke, with an 'unprecedented demand' for ambulance crews.

Trains have been cancelled as rails buckle in the heat, for the first time in almost 100 years donkey rides were cancelled at a seaside resort in South Wales as it was too hot for the animals and for the first time in its history, Royal Ascot has not enforced its dress code.

Women stripped off to their bikinis as temperatures rocketed in the record-breaking summer of 1976, which saw nine weeks of blazing heat

Residents were forced to collect water from a standpipe In Northam, Devon in 1976 as the country was gripped by a heatwave and subsequent drought which followed

Tanning herself in the drought that brought water supply problems to Britain some 41 years ago, 19-year-old model Cerica donned a bikini and enjoyed the sunshine in the dried-up basin of Pitsford Reservoir in Northamptonshire

Festival-goers sought refuge from the boiling sun at Worthy Farm as the Glastonbury Festival got underway yesterday

In similar scenes, sunseekers stripped down to their swimwear in 1976 to make the most of the blazing heat

Sun worshippers in Brighton, East Sussex this week where the temperature hit 33.9C. This is the hottest prolonged spell in June since the drought summer of 1976

The scene on Brighton beach as temperatures soared to 80C, during June, 1976. It was one of the most prolonged heat waves within living memory

That's one way to cool off: A young woman battles the scorching heat of 1976 by taking a dip in a fountain

Sizzling Wimbledon: In the 1976 heatwave Sweden’s so-called ice-man, Bjorn Borg, was powering towards the first of his five consecutive men’s singles titles, when 400 spectators had to be treated for sun exposure

Firefighters putting out a forest fire in Epping Forest, near London, on July 6, 1976. Britain's worst drought for 250 years led to frequent outbreaks of fire around the country

Sunbathers packed Brighton beach in East Sussex in 1976 as they desperately tried to cool off in scorching temperatures which lasted for weeks

C Pillbeam, of the Metropolitan Water Board, turns down the water pressure at a turncock outside St Paul's Cathedral, London on August 18, 1976. The mains water pressure was reduced by a quarter to conserve water supplies

Londoner Dave Pike washes his Ford Escort Mk1 using water from the Thames at Putney, during Britain's worst drought for 250 years, on August 25, 1976

With a strict hosepipe ban in most places, patrol vans prowled the streets and people were actively encouraged to tell on their neighbours - so people took drastic measures to cool off

Employees back in 1976 took their work outdoors and swapped the office desk for a fountain in a bid to avoid overheating

The searingly hot weather, from mid-June to the end of August was more prolonged than any within living memory

Too dry: Soil became severely cracked during the lengthy heatwave of 1976, with hosepipe bans out in force

Agriculture Minister Fred Peart with a handful of powdery soil in a carrot field at Hall Farm on the Duke of Grafton's Euston estate as the minister began a two-day fact-finding tour of drought-hit farmlands in the UK. The land's normal yield of 18 to 25 tons of carrots an acre was all lost due to a lack of rain

Thousands of people gathered at the London Serpentine in Hyde Park during the summer heatwave of 1976

From left: Lynne Simmons, 23, Liz Seeney, 27, and Christine Seymour, 24, all technicians with the McIndoe Research institute, cool off in the river as the 1976 Ginevra Handicap races past