When boiling temperatures melted stiff upper lips

When the temperature soars, people can act in the most unpredictable ways. A motorist stirred a scandal during the 1949 heatwave by driving a car topless through Forfar. The Courier’s report does not specify the gender of the motorist but the word shirt rather than blouse was used so I guess it was a man.

A decade earlier a heatwave prompted a fashion revolution as men were forced to swap their heavy woollen trousers for flannels.

Dundee’s shops ran out of their lightweight trousers, although The Courier reported that men refused to part with their collars and ties during the scorcher. As the thermometer reached the high 80s, those with a distrust of flannels dug out kilts to maximise the cooling effect of any breeze.

The weather in early July 1934 brought misery to some business people in the city.

Cinemas were too hot for comfort, with some attracting fewer than eight customers.

It was impossible to keep fish fresh and fishmongers called on the fleet to take its catch to England.

Keiller’s factory had to stop making chocolate in the heat and hundreds of bottles of milk turned sour on doorsteps, causing misery and loss to dairies.

The whole of eastern Scotland was in the grip of the 1949 heatwave. Birds were seen with feet covered in melted tar and children spent all day in their swimwear.

In Perth, it was 83F (28C) in the shade at Hillyland Nurseries. Hundreds gathered on the North Inch and cooled off in the Tay. In St Andrews, there was an unprecedented relaxation of standards as golfers played the Old Course in tennis flannels.

But by Tuesday July 12, the happy days were over. People across Tayside woke up to grey skies and temperatures of 54F (12C). A chilling easterly breeze banished the warm front and people had to reach for their waterproofs for the first time in six weeks.

Later in the day, heavy rain began in south Fife and moved north into Perthshire and Angus, bringing to an end a drought that had lasted 39 days.

A motorist stirred a scandal by driving a car topless through Forfar