What a Scorcher - A Look Back at Heatwaves in Britain

No air conditioning or chilled drinks cabinets, the British people had to think of more inventive ways to cool down...

1st August 1911: Men sleeping on the sands at Westcliff during a heatwave. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

1st July 1913: Men cover their heads with newspapers to protect them from the summer sun. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

1913: Nannies with their charges under a tree in Kensington Gardens, London, during a heatwave. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

August 1919: London schoolboys relax in the park during a heatwave. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

20th September 1926: A group of friends cooling off in Mill Weir, Berkshire during a heat wave. (Photo by Brooke/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

circa 1928: Workers at a hat manufacturers in Luton carrying piles of men’s straw hats, which were in demand due to a heatwave. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

August 1930: A water cart man turns the water main on a group of boys to help them cool off in a street in Westminster, London during a heatwave. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

19th August 1932: A bus conductor wipes the sweat from his face as he climbs the stairs to collect fares from the top deck of his bus in Trafalgar Square during a heat wave. (Photo by A. Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

27th July 1933: London schoolchildren crowding into a padling pool at King Edward Memorial Park, Wapping during a heatwave. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

May 13, 1934. Two divers jumping off the Embankment into the River Thames in London, near Westminster Bridge. (Photo by H F Davis/Getty Images)

July 10, 1934. Three women on Blackpool promenade during a heatwave. One wears a divided skirt and the other a straight skirt, both over swimwear. The middle one has a ‘copy’ of the Letty Lynton dress made popular by Joan Crawford in the film of that name. Adapted for the mass market the triple row of frills at the hem are matched by frills at the shoulder forming cap sleeves. (Photo by E Dean/Getty Images)

August 26, 1933. A group of people take refuge from the heatwave with a hose-pipe shower in their garden pond, Streatham, London. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

circa 1935: A bus driver and conductor stop for a water break during a heatwave in London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

circa 1935: A policeman carrying a consignment of straw helmets at Luton Police Station. The straw version replaces the standard blue helmet in a bid to beat the hot weather. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

1935. A group of children having a hose-down from firemen during a heatwave in London. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

27th July 1935: Pupils have a lesson in the open air in the shade of a tree at Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, during a spell of hot weather. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

circa 1935: Typists working on a Cardiff roof-top during a heatwave. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

19th June 1936: Valuable racing greyhounds taking exercise in the grounds of Wembley Stadium protected from the blazing sun by a large umbrella. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

25th June 1935: Three little boys shelter from the sun under a battered umbrella during London’s summer heatwave. (Photo by E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

23rd July 1936: Welsh quarrymen work in their vests during a heatwave in Abercarn, Monmouthshire. (Photo by Richards/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

June 1936: A worker distributing blocks of ice for the Pure Ice company during a heatwave. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

6th August 1937: Children enjoy a cooling drink from the fountain on Clapham Common. (Photo by H. Allen/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

29th August 1936: St John’s Ambulancemen handing out oatmeal drinks in the heat at the football match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park. (Photo by E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

June 28, 1949. Chorus girls from the show ‘Sauce Tartare’ at the Cambridge Theatre in London, keep cool on the roof of the theatre with a block of ice, 28th June 1949. From left to right, they are Audrey Hepburn, Enid Smeedon and Aud Johanssen of Norway. (Photo by Ron Case/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

19th April 1952: 19 year old usherette Margaret Lewis from Carmaethen, Wales, who lives in Kensington, caused a stir in Piccadilly when she decided to beat the heat wave and travel to work clad only in bikini and high heels. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

29th June 1957: Spectators shading themselves from the sun at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, during a heatwave in London. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

An ambulance man on duty at the Holborn Oasis swimming pool, London, suffering in the July heat. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)January 01, 1964

A teenage girl cooling off in the Serpentine during the Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park, London, 5th July 1969. (Photo by Reg Burkett/Express/Getty Images)

25th June 1976: A spectator at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships using an umbrella to shelter from the sun, as Marise Kruger of South Africa plays a match. (Photo by Roger Jackson/Central Press/Getty Images)

Tea lady Alice Bond providing refreshments for office workers, 13th July 1976. (Photo by M. Fresco/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Image )

(via Flashbak)