Hottest temperature ever recorded in Britain

The Heat Is On (Leicester)

If you can remember the summer of 1990, then I’m sure you will recall tugging at the collar of your MC Hammer themed t-shirt and saying something along the lines of ‘Phew! What a scorcher!’ As it was, indeed, a scorcher. On this particular day, in Leicestershire, the highest ever British temperature was recorded. A whopping (and sweltering) 37.1C, or 99F. Clamminess ran rampant. Stickiness was an established way of life.

Callipo sales went through the roof.Roads were clogged as fanatical sun-seekers dashed to the nearest coast and quickly went very red indeed, probably with a knotted hankie on their heads. Sadly though, any attempts to establish Leicestershire as some kind of tourist-trapping ‘Warmness Centre of the UK’ resort with sunshine related theme rides and attractions like ‘The World’s Biggest Solero’ were dashed in 2003 when certain usurpers in Kent managed to get the temperature up to an egg-boiling 38.1C (100.6F). The place that rendered this magical number? Gravesend. Ironic as that day Leicestershire’s weather related dreams died.