Empty reservoirs, ladybugs and sunstroke: remembering the British heat wave of 1976 | extreme heat

The recent heat wave in the UK broke the previous June record of 35.6C, recorded during the 1976 heat wave.

At Ringwood, Norfolk, a provisional temperature of 37.7C was recorded on Friday 26 June, breaking the previous record achieved on 28 June 1976 and 29 June 1957.

We asked people to share their memories of the 1976 heat wave. How did they cope, and how did it compare to the heat wave of 2026?

Here are some of their answers:

The summer of 1976 was ‘a shock to the nation’ by Margaret Waring. Photo: Guardian Community

“The context of the 1976 heat wave was very different,” said Margaret Waring, 87, from Cambridge. “There was a drought. It was a shock to the country because nothing like that had ever happened before.”

During the heatwave, Margaret worked in Manchester teaching geography, meteorology and climatology in secondary schools. “Sometimes we would take a bath together when we got home. We had to decide who would bathe first and make sure they didn’t get it too dirty. At the time, I had two teenage children and a husband. We didn’t have a shower.

“We came up with a siphon system that connects a garden hose from the bathroom window to a plastic bucket to water the vegetable garden, and the flowers and grass are ignored. It also saves water in the washing machine.”

Water aside, Margaret says the current heat wave is more uncomfortable. “The heat didn’t seem as limiting as it is now. High humidity and temperatures have made it harder to deal with. Air pollution has become much worse. There have been unbelievable changes in the last 50 years. But now I can take a shower out of three when I get home.”

At the 1976 commencement ceremony, John said, ‘The reservoir was empty.’ Photo: John Ellis/Guardian Community

John Ellis, 72, said attending the final in Oxford during the 1976 heatwave in a full gown, shirt, jacket, thick trousers, mortar board and bow tie was “difficult”.

“The test school building was seething,” he says. “It was very tall, Victorian, with lots of light. We were only allowed to take our gowns off! We had nine papers between Thursday and Tuesday. It was very difficult.”

After his exams, John, a retired FE lecturer and now a crime writer, returned home to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, where he saw “empty reservoirs” and “the exposed remains of long-submerged villages” like Derwent, including Ladybower in Derbyshire, “just over Huddersfield Hill”.

Today John said he is having a harder time coping with the heat. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but the sun is stronger, I feel like I’m burning faster, and the heat is so debilitating.

“Summers like 1976 are rare. Unfortunately, we have missed an opportunity to actually stop this. We should have reduced emissions 25 or 30 years ago, so action on this is inevitable now. I think we can stop the situation from getting worse if we continue to reduce emissions, but we will have to adapt to what’s happening now.”

Susan’s baby ‘I was pregnant but there was no water’ in 1976. Photo: Guardian Community

Susan Gilliam, 79, was pregnant with her first child in a Crystal Palace apartment during the heatwave.

“It was so hot and dry it was just horrible,” she says. “During the summer I lied and said I did as little as I could. The birth was hard, but the aftermath was almost more difficult because there was no water. The only water we had was from the toilet. We turned on the tap and nothing came out.”

“When my son was born, there was no place to wash his diapers other than the bathroom. It was disgusting. We used a bucket of water delivered by a truck every day. We even had to stand in line with buckets. We were not allowed more than one bucket. We filled the bucket with water and that was all we had for the day.”

“The apartment was very well insulated but not fit for purpose during the heat. I used to take the baby for walks in Crystal Palace Park.”

Mark Hainge (left) during training in May 1976. Photo: Guardian Community ‘It’s getting hotter, it’s getting hotter, it’s getting hotter’

Mark Hainge, 68, from Hay-on-Wye, recalls a grueling summer of training as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in May 1976.

“It got hotter, hotter, hotter. We had occasional breaks to drink from the standpipe, like feeding cows. Hydration breaks, you could say. People were consuming copious amounts of water to make sure they were in shape for the next eight hours.

“At the end of a day’s training, our big old-fashioned khaki flannel shirts would be completely soaked, so we had no choice but to wash them, iron them, and put them back on to get ready for the next day. As an 18-year-old, you don’t really question that. If you asked me to do it now, I’d probably have a few questions.”

The standards of the academy were as high as the temperature. “We could expect even the smallest detail of our uniforms and turnouts to be inspected on the parade. After a tough time on the main parade ground, the Scottish Guards Color Sergeant in charge of our platoon decided to have some fun: ‘Mr Hainge – show me your boots!’

“I bent one leg back so he could check the soles of my boots. ‘Dirty boots sir!’ He shouted in triumph before marching me from the parade square to the guard cell. My ‘crime’ was allowing the soles of my boots to collect some of the melting tarmac on the parade ground.”

‘I couldn’t have asked for anything better.’ Michael strikes the ‘peacock pose’ in the outdoor swimming pool. Photo: Michael Keane/Guardian Community

Being close to water during the heat wave of 1976 brought about changes in people’s memories of that time. Michael Keane, 71, who worked as a lifeguard in London, recalled this day as “the perfect summer.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better job as a lifeguard at an outdoor swimming pool. There was a lot of laughter and joking,” he says.

Michael worked at King George Park outdoor swimming pool in Wandsworth, south west London, which has since closed.

“I had several rescues that summer and had lots of memories,” says Michael, who is retired and lives in the Oval, south-west London.

At one point that summer, the pool had to be closed because the water was so murky and visibility was poor. “It was a public holiday so it seemed like people were breaking in anyway,” he says.

Although retired, Michael is still passionate about lidos, swimming pools and swimming in the ocean.

Michael is still a keen swimmer. Photo: Michael Keane/Guardian Community

If you have a hard time even in this heat wave, find the coolest room in the house and “stay there.”

“I’m lucky that I have wisteria at home, which helps me stay a little cooler,” he adds.

‘I’ve had sunstroke twice’ Tracey says the water conservation message from 1976 has stayed with her. Photo: Tracy/Guardian Community

Tracy, 57, who grew up in Devon, said she remembers the heat wave of 1976 well because, although she was only seven, she suffered heat exhaustion twice.

“We didn’t apply sunscreen and wear hats and cover up like we do now,” she says. “I was basically burned. I remember my mom, my sister, and I being very sick that summer.”

But unlike many people, they had a water source nearby.

“We lived on the edge of Totnes, and luckily we had a spring of water at our house that never dried up,” she says. “You could see on TV people having to draw water from standpipes, but we never had to deal with any of that.”

The Guardian’s Country Diary of 17 July 1976 refers to a ‘flood’ of ladybugs that descended on the Welsh coastline. Photo: The Guardian

Tracy, who now lives in central Sweden where she grows and sells vegetables, recalls that her family was very careful about their water use.

“The ground was baked hard and cracked, but we couldn’t water the garden at all, and I remember schools at school having stickers on the toilets that said, “Flush if you need to.”

Tracey says she’s not happy with the recent hot weather. Temperatures in southern Sweden have recently exceeded 36C. “Luckily, we have our own well,” he adds.

But the lessons she learned during the heat wave of 1976 stayed with her.

“They have been with me ever since,” she adds. “I water my garden with rainwater. I have five 1,000-litre tanks and a bucket to collect water. I still don’t like wasting water.”

‘You can’t walk without stepping on a ladybug’

“The thing I remember most about the heat wave was the ladybugs,” said Susie Waddell, 80, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea. At the time, my husband and I were living on a houseboat on the River Medway in Kent. Ladybugs got into everything, especially the water tanks.

“We were moored along the marina boardwalk, and you couldn’t walk without stepping on them. There were hundreds of them everywhere. It lasted for weeks. That was my main memory of 1976.”

The advantage of living on a boat at the time was that Suzy was not seriously affected by water shortages. “In any case, we didn’t overuse water,” she says.

The current heat wave hasn’t bothered her too much, she says. “It’s okay as long as you drink a lot of water and wear a hat when you go out.

“I haven’t seen a single ladybug this summer,” she adds.

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