Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

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Pool in the north east.

The gala opening included English Amateur Swimming Associatio­n ladies champion Hilda M James demonstrat­ing fashionabl­e swimming styles, ladies and gents water polo matches and a comic display by Tynemouth Amateur Swimming Club. The terraces were designed to hold up to 2,000 people and swimmers could use hired tents as changing rooms.

One way to find instant shade was with a parasol. The rattan summer parasol made an appearance in 1927 and the following year there were lace-trimmed parasols with embroidere­d designs of exotic birds and a hand-painted Chinese dragon motif to choose from.

Parasols continued to be popular – and the most effective way of staying cool – for the next few decades and in the 1950s they were even big enough to provide shade for three at a time.

The 1960s saw eye-catching slit sunglasses bearing slogans being worn on the streets of London. The cool eye wear came with messages ranging from Hold My Hand and Go Naked to Make Love Not War.

It was hot enough to cook an egg on a car bonnet during the 1976 heatwave and temperatur­es reached 96.6°F at one point in Cheltenham. The relentless heat caused severe drought across Europe and many countries introduced emergency water rationing.

It was one of Britain’s longest heatwates in living memory and triggered the most significan­t drought for at least the last 150 years. Water levels in rivers and reservoirs across dropped so low that the Drought Act was introduced and a Minister for Drought appointed. There was even talk of bringing in tankers filled with water from abroad if the situation continued.

There were 15 consecutiv­e days when temperatur­es reached 89.6°F or higher somethere in the UK. Things became so desperate that an Indian rain dance was held in Rugby in September 1976, but the energetic efforts failed to produce even a light drizzle.

When summer temperatur­es rose in 1990, Welsh staff at The Co-operative Bank in Newport started getting hot behind the counter so were given special dispensati­on to wear shorts instead of their bank uniforms.

The fire services was also kept busy that year tackling heath and farmland fires that broke out because of the dry conditions.

The heat also damaged road surfaces across the country in 2006 with the cost of repairs estimated at £3.6 million in Oxfordshir­e alone. Speed restrictio­ns were introduced by many train companies because of the risk of rail lines buckling.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for some of the zoo inmates who have struggled to stay cool over the years. Poor king penguin Purdy had to be hosed down in 1970 when the soaring temperatur­es started to cause the mum-to-be problems after she had been sitting on her egg at Crystal Palace Zoo ... for four days.

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