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Liam O'Dell
Jul 16, 2022
Related video: GB News host tells meteorologist to be 'happy' about heatwave
GB News
We assure you it isn’t some terrible knock-off of a hit single from Bryan Adams. Some people really are harking back to weather from more than 40 years ago to argue that the incoming heatwave is nothing to worry about.
The Met Office issued its first ever red warning for extreme heat on Friday, adding that an “exceptional hot spell on Monday and Tuesday” would lead to “widespread impacts on people and infrastructure”.
There are also concerns temperatures could hit 40C, breaking the previous high of 38.7C, which was recorded in Cambridge in 2019.
Though it’s 1976 which many people are talking about in relation to this current weather when the UK saw 15 consecutive days of temperatures above 32C, a swarm of ladybirds and – most alarmingly – a 20 per cent year-on-year increase of “excess deaths” that summer and a spike in hospitalisations.
But no, folks, let’s dismiss fears about climate change in favour of some good ol’ fashioned nostalgia!
One high-profile example came on Thursday, when GB News host Bev Turner told an actual meteorologist to be “happy” about rising temperatures.
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She asked John Hammond: “Haven’t we always had hot weather, John? The summer of ’76, that was as hot as this, wasn’t it?”
And she isn’t the only one referencing the weather from back then:
\u201cI was a 13 year-old boy during the summer of 76 and had the time of my life \u2013 skateboarding, swimming, playing cricket. Happily, there were no climate change alarmists and health fascists ordering children to stay inside https://t.co/8gBxyD76HR\u201d— Toby Young (@Toby Young) 1657472410
\u201c#heatwave\nI remember the heatwave of 76.\nI was just a kid and we played outside all summer. \nI remember the tarmac melting and the swarms of ladybirds.\u201d— Dianna\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 (@Dianna\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7) 1657542005
\u201cIf you think Monday and Tuesday is going to be bad just imagine how people coped in the summer of 76! They suffered 12 weeks of heat with roads melting! It\u2019s two days fgs just stay hydrated and stay out of the sun where possible #CommonSense\u201d— Sarbear \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 (@Sarbear \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7) 1657964787
\u201cThe summer of "76 was something else, we didn't suffer, we didn't need to be told what to do, we just got on and enjoyed it. Wonderful times, we didn't know how lucky we were\u201d— JD \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 (@JD \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7) 1657904941
\u201cIn the summer of 76 which was incredible we were never sold the menu of doom that the media is peddling now. Red alert, danger of death, emergency, etc. Media whipped it up with covid, partygate and now the sun. Experts on TV now predicting apocalyptic casualties.#heatwave\u201d— Mark Lawford (@Mark Lawford) 1657904895
The argument has since been strongly ridiculed online, however:
\u201c\u201c40! Back in my day in 76\u2019 it was that hot my testicles melted! Bloody people can\u2019t just call it summer anymore, it\u2019s all scaremongering\u2026\u201d\u201d— Guffers (@Guffers) 1657889445
\u201cStand down everyone. Blighty had a hot summer in 76 so all the scientists are wrong about global climate change, and folk who think velcro is a MENSA exam are right.\u201d— Skew Spew Barmy Hairdo Curmudgeon Bigot and Smug (@Skew Spew Barmy Hairdo Curmudgeon Bigot and Smug) 1657905773
\u201cSeeing lots of 'I survived the Summer of 76' hard knocks on Twitter, about to find out what 40 degree heat actually means.\u201d— Scarred for Life (@Scarred for Life) 1657978958
\u201cDuring the Summer of 76 I was living in a volcano with a fire elemental, I got up every day at 4am and then worked down the fire mines digging up fire all day until 3am and then I'd go home and eat flames before going back out to do all it all again and did me no harm\u201d— Terry Fuck (@Terry Fuck) 1657968253
\u201cI was 8 in the summer of '76. When I got a bit hot my mum would nail ice cubes to my forehead and I'd just continue bouncing on my spacehopper\u201d— Davey Jones (@Davey Jones) 1657890527
\u201cAnyone around from the 1976 heatwave who could tell us how they coped with it?\n\nI bet it was probably by catching nits, playing on train tracks and drinking mercury or something? They could just deal with it then. Not like kids these days who have vegan smartphones for hands.\u201d— Buckers (@Buckers) 1657889848
Oh, and actual meteorologists and scientists have shut down the argument too:
\u201c\u2018What about 1976?\u2019\n\nTuesday\u2019s predicted temperature is 4 Celsius hotter than any day throughout the entire 1970s and 1980s\u201d— Aidan McGivern (@Aidan McGivern) 1657910105
\u201c"But it was hot in 1976! Where was your climate crisis then?"\n\nSo let's have a look at the data, on a global scale.\n\nThe global average temperature was more than 1\u00b0C warmer this year. The change in 46 years is staggering.\u201d— Dr Simon Lee (@Dr Simon Lee) 1657811091
\u201cTo anyone asking 'What's the fuss, have we forgotten 1976?!'. These temps are even higher - & deadly. The 2003 European heatwave likely killed over 70,000 people. This extreme heat is becoming the norm. We risk catastrophe if we don't rapidly halt global warming.\u201d— James Dyke (@James Dyke) 1657882393
We’d say remarks about 1976 are a load of hot air, but we honestly can’t deal with any more of that right now.
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