IT was the year many people went 45 days without rain, while the south recorded the UK’s highest temperature.

The recent heatwave may have been pretty remarkable, but it’s a long way off matching the summer of 1976.

That year, temperatures were often well into the 30s Celsius, or 90s Fahrenheit.

And on June 28, the UK’s highest temperature was recorded in Southampton, at 35.6 Celsius (96.1 Fahrenheit).

The weather had been dryer than normal ever since May 1975, so the hot summer of 1976 became a severe drought.

In August 1976, many parts of the country, including Dorset’s Milton Abbas, reached 45 days without rain.

Heath fires became a frighteningly common occurrence.

Poole firefighters fought a blaze at Canford Heath, while thousands of trees were destroyed at Ebblake, near Ringwood, Matchams and Avon Causeway.

Brownsea Island was closed to the public because of the risk.

Five hundred people heading for Matchams Country Club were trapped in the nearby Matchams Stadium as one of the New Forest’s worst ever fires burned around them.

Hundreds of holiday-makers and residents were evacuated as 50ft high flames came within yards of Oakdene caravan site at St Leonards.

The government appointed Dennis Howell as “minister for drought” – but within days of him taking up the job, a thunderstorm caused the skies to open. Naturally, it was the August bank holiday.