A lot of things happened in 1976 including the unexpected resignation of the Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

But ask anyone who was in England at the time and there is one thing they remember – the heatwave of the century.

It was especially intense in Sussex and the rest of the south east as the jet stream moved sharply to the north for several months.

And it was herethat it was last to loosen its grip, finally stopping on this day, September10, 40 years ago.

A series of particularly poor summers in the 1950s and 1960s extending to 1974 was followed by a scorcher in 1975.

Indeed if it had not been for the summer of 1976, that year would have been high on the list of memorable heatwaves.

But 1976 was easily the hottest and driest summer of the 20th century and in spite of global warming it still holds a number of records.

The most sustained heat was in late June and early July. Every day for almost two weeks somewhere in the country recorded a temperature of 90 degrees F. Temperatures in the 80s were the norm rather than the exception.

It continued well into August, only breaking down slowly at the end of the month and in early September.

Accompanying the heat was the most fearsome drought of the century. This started in April 1975 and continued for well over a year,

By the end of August, some places that normally expected 25 inches of rain a year had received just four and Britain was running out of water.

The big reservoirs were almost empty in Sussex but water in aquifers beneath the South Downs remained. A little fountain at Fulking north of Brighton never stopped working all summer long.

Eventually the new Prime Minister, James Callaghan, appointed the Minister of Sport, Denis Howell, as drought Minister and this seemed to do the trick.

The uncharismatic but effective Howell seemed to have the magic touch and rain soon followed his appointment. Standpipes which had been installed in some streets, (although not in Sussex) were soon removed.

And once the rain started it never seemed to stop. After one of the wettest autumns on record, most places in Sussex ended with near normal values.

The great heatwave changed the way we behaved in Sussex. Men started to wear shorts whereas most of them had not done so before.

People swam in the sea which reached Mediterranean-style temperatures of 72 degree F at one time. Cafes spread chairs and tables on to the pavement.

On the downside there was a huge shortage of vegetables and fruit because of the dry weather and not everyone liked the swarms of ladybirds that surprisingly appeared.

It looked as if there would be a third heatwave in a row in 1977 when May started breaking records early on and people flocked to the beach.

But it was a false alarm and with few exceptions there has not been a summer to rival 1976 since.