BRITAIN RUNS DRY!

Water rationing. Stand pipes. River beds drying up. The local branch of VG Stores running out of Mini Milks. These were just some of the challenges of The Big Summer of 1976.

If you are of an age to recall the summer of 42 years ago, these three images will be instantly familiar. The sign being passed by the new Austin Allegro Estate was one that could be seen across the country. The drought was the result of the UK experiencing very dry weather over the previous 12 months and its effects were felt across the country in June 1976.

By August some parts of the country had been rain-free for 45 consecutive days and £500 million worth of crops had been destroyed. On the fifth of that month the government passed the Drought Bill and Denis Howell was appointed Minister for Drought. One of his duties was to perform a rain dance.

As the season progressed, terms such as ‘water rationing’ and ‘stand pipe’ could be heard in everyday conversation, and Wimbledon umpires were permitted to remove their jackets for the first time in 99 years. Hosepipe Patrol Vans were seen on the streets of Birmingham while Big Ben ceased to chime due to metal fatigue.

One solution to the heat was to follow the example of the Ford Escort MkI owner, but that was assuming that you lived within easy reach of a beach or major river – and that your car was in a state to make the journey.

The dream may have been driving to the seaside with the hood lowered on your MGB with Bryan Ferry crooning Let’s

Stick Together on the radio, but the reality was often radiators boiling over and being stranded by the roadside in the mid-day heat. It became standard practice to wipe the vinyl upholstery of your Marina or Cortina with a flannel as cloth trim was a luxury to quite a few motorists.

As for air conditioning, this was a pure fantasy to the vast majority of British drivers, who had to rely on either the front quarterlights or vents that drew in stifling air. It was a common phenomenon to find whole families seeking the Lyon’s Maid ice cream sign outside of a shop as a form of oasis.

By July it seemed that every local newspaper carried a photograph of a reporter attempting to fry an egg on the pavement, but the shot of the Water Board Marina Van is a reminder of the many problems caused by the drought.

In parts of South Wales there was no water supply between 7am and 6pm, reservoirs were half-empty, natural springs dried up and there was the everpresent risk of fire in woodland areas. One of my memories of 1976 was of the blazes that devasted parts of the New Forest and how on the 8 June the temperature in Southampton reached 35.6°C – the highest recorded in the UK that month.

I was convinced the city’s AEC Regent buses were going to melt, and I certainly remember just how hot the interior of a 1964 Wolseley Hornet MkII could be, even on a short journeys to palces like to Meon Shore.

Then there were the swarms of ladybirds (they seemed to have a particular affinity for the paternal Triumph TR4A) and the Hampshire Fire Brigade Dennis appliances racing to the woodlands near Harefield.

But just as Mr Howell was threatening to ration water, the rains finally came. And the ‘Save Water, Bath With A Friend’ stickers were (mercifully) removed from car bumpers across the land.

Take note of all this as you look back on this year’s weather.