Pictures from the long heatwave of 1976

While the long hot summer of 1976 was one of the hottest of all time, the latest heatwave looks as though it could be a contender.

Even though the record for the highest individual temperature has been broken twice since 1976 - once in 1990 and again in 2003 when Brogdale in Kent reached 38.5C (101.3F) - nothing has come close to 1976 in terms of sheer persistence.

Every day between June 22 and July 16, 1976, the temperature reached well above 80F.

READ MORE: 16 pictures from heatwaves through the years >>>

However, the heat was at its most intense between June 23 and July 7, with temperatures soaring to 90F every day in some places.

Water reserves were depleted and parts of the South were left tinder-dry as the intense sun led to hundreds of acres of fires.

Echo staff fried eggs on scorching manhole covers while Hampshire firefighters responded to 175 incidents a day - and as if it wasn't hot enough outside, an arsonist set 14 fires in Southampton General Hospital.

During the drought, ladybirds thrived, water authority officials checked gardens to ensure owners didn't use illicit hoses, beer production was threatened, and ice cream queues were endless.

When the rains finally arrived in early October, it was one of the wettest autumns on record.

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