Two things were inescapable in the long hot summer of 1976 - the energy-sapping heat and that twee Number One by Elton John and Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart - blaring from every radio.
I was 17, and prone to four-hour football matches down the park - standing over an allotment tap for water to cascade down my throat - no plastic bottles of Evian and the like then. I remember the grime of labouring in a hot factory and the perfume of honeysuckle on summer nights spent idling with mates and girls, sneaking an under-age pint or two of thirst-quenching Midlands bitter, or cold but awful Harp lager.
But while I basked with the rest of the country in an atypical British six months, a national crisis developed. A minister for drought had to be appointed, and, as reservoirs dried out, gardeners were banned from using hosepipes. Meanwhile The Bellamy Brothers, folk rockers who were so soft they made The Eagles look like Hells Angels, chirped "Let Your Love Flow Like a Mountain Stream".
The freak heat then was not the same as we are experiencing now. It was less intense - but lasted much longer. Temperatures on Manchester this week reached 38C and 40.2C at Heathrow today.
The highest temperature recorded in June 1976 was 35.6 C (96.08 F) in Southampton on the 28th. Whilst 35.9 C, (96.6 F) recorded in Cheltenham, was the highest July temperature that year.
For 15 consecutive days, from June 23rd to July 7 in 1976, temperatures reached 32.2 °C (90 °F) somewhere in England. But what really set the summer of ‘76 apart was the drought. Below average rainfall was notable from May 1975 to August 1976, resulting in one of the most significant droughts of our climate record. It was dry from March to September 1976 - six months.
Back then, the National Water Council had to take out full pages in newspapers instructing the public how to deal with the drought. If we had to take a bath, then we were to do so in no more than 5in of water.
It prompted a famous T-shirt slogan - ‘Save Water. Bath With A Friend.’ When the country watched in disbelief as Manchester United were beaten by underdogs Southampton in the FA Cup Final in May, ‘76, we had already gone a month without rain.
Then the mercury really began to climb as we basked in June and July. The heat caused permanent changes to British forests. Scientists found that the long dry spell of 1976 - the UK’s most intense drought between 1914 and 2006 - killed off many drought-sensitive beech trees.
Reservoir levels had got so low they became basins of bone-hard cracked mud. Thousands of homes had their water supply replaced by communal standpipes in the street and some householders were left without tap water for much of the day, with some factories forced to shorten their working week, as industry was ordered to slash water consumption.
Patrols toured the streets to make sure the hosepipe ban was enforced. Britain had yet to embrace the joys of real artisan beer back then; thirsts were quenched with draught Carlsberg, Carling Black Label lagers and local bitter.
Pub jukeboxes boomed through the scorching months to songs which complemented the weather - Young Hearts Run Free, by Candi Staton, Here Comes The Sun by Cockney Rebel, and Harvest for The World by the Isley Brothers, plus the cider-sodden Wurzels.
The Rolling Stones were on tour, I saw them in a sweat-pit of a former abattoir in Stafford that summer. The band were one hour late coming on and in a surreal moment the venue's lights came on halfway through Street Fighting Man as a bloke announced the last train to Birmingham was leaving in 20 minutes.
Mick's vocals were awesome as was Charlie's drumming and Bill's solid bass - they needed to be as Ron Wood's Jack Daniels addled guitar and Keith's substance-fuelled solos were wayward. But in the heat of the night and dirt of a grubby venue they were shambolically magnificent.
When I got home after midnight my mother commented in a Black Country accent "Yow look like you've been down a mine" - as I was covered in a fine black dust.
One way in which the summer of 1976 did mirror 2022 was disruption to travel and forest fires. The temperatures this week resulted in the suspension of some local train services and all trams on the Bury Metrolink line were suspended due to the heatwave. Today, all West Coat Main Line train services were cancelled.
In 1976 the AA reported being called to 1,500 breakdowns caused by overheated engines. Passengers were left stranded for hours in stifling heat on the London Underground due to signal failure.
This summer moorland fires broke out around Greater Manchester - with the spate in recent days being blamed on arsonists and irresponsible people having barbeques on the moors.
In '76 firefighters in Dorset were tackling heathland and forest fires daily; in Hurn Forest an estimated 50,000 trees were lost to an inferno; and tinderbox conditions stretched fire crews in South Wales to the limit tackling forest fires.
This week Chester Zoo closed due to the heat and in '76 at London Zoo the elephants' bath water was used to water the plants, while hosepipe patrol vans were on the streets of Birmingham, ready to pounce on anyone selfish enough to wash their car.
In '76 nearly £500m worth of crops failed in the UK due to the weather. Thunderstorms finally broke the sweltering weather in late summer with rain and floods following. Ironically it began to rain a week after the appointment of Denis Howell as the Minister for Drought.
Dubbed "Mr Rainmaker" by the Press, he had held court with reporters at his home, revealing how he intended to share a bath with his wife. On his orders British Rail stopped washing their trains.
As uncomfortable as it has been, this week's weather does not compare with 1976. That summer, then the hottest Britain had ever known was remarkable in that it was so unusual, and long lasting. Worryingly, climate experts predict this week's unbearable, suffocating heat, will be an increasingly regular occurrence.
For more of today's stories, click here
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