{"id":252847,"date":"2025-05-22T23:44:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T23:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/heatwave-the-summer-of-1976-britain-at-boiling-point-by-john-l-williams-blog-tour-annabookbel\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T23:44:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T23:44:58","slug":"heatwave-the-summer-of-1976-britain-at-boiling-point-by-john-l-williams-blog-tour-annabookbel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=252847","title":{"rendered":"Heatwave, The Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point by John L Williams \u2013 blog tour \u2013 AnnaBookBel"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The 1970s was the decade during which I was a teenager, from start to finish \u2013 encompassing the whole of my time at senior school and my first years at university. Regardless of all the politics and scandals which largely passed me by, my life outside school was coloured by pop music, some classic sitcoms, youth club and the borough youth orchestras. In school, 1976 was the year of my O-Levels, taken in our sweltering gym as that long hot summer began to kick in \u2013 but I did okay, choosing Maths and Science A-Levels, despite my grades being higher overall in languages and music \u2013 hindsight is not a helpful thing in that regard!<\/p>\n

What has stuck in my brain from that year? Obviously, the drought \u2013 water rationing and standpipes in some areas. A public information campaign to share a bath. Also the Sex Pistols and the birth of UK punk plus cricket with the West Indies touring. All of these are covered in Heatwave<\/em>, but also much more.<\/p>\n

The book is divided into four sections \u2013 one each for May, June, July and August, and within each of these is the same basic structure scaffolded by the daily papers, beginning with the Weather and Headlines, then alternating feature sections with more news from the \u2018Inside Pages\u2019 & World news, Sport, Music and Film plus what was on TV.<\/p>\n

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The feature sections offer an indepth look at some particular happenings. In May these were the Trico factory strike over equal pay for women, and two Yorkshire murderers \u2013 Peter Sutcliffe who attempted to murder Marcella Claxton, who survived \u2013 but he still wasn\u2019t caught, and Ron Castree who abducted young girls and was caught later in July \u2013 but his story fits with Sutcliffe\u2019s. Being full into revision and exams, I don\u2019t recall either the striking women, nor the latter murderer. But when we get to the music section, I was delighted to see Steely Dan\u2019s album The Royal Scam<\/em> get a mention \u2013 an album I\u2019d hotfooted it to Our Price Records to buy \u2013 I\u2019d got into Steely Dan a while before as they were a favourite of a boy at the youth club that I fancied \u2013 he had good taste \u2013 in music \u2013 and I became a big Dan fan.<\/p>\n

Most of the feature sections are about serious news topics \u2013 covering the different riots and marches and sad tragedies that went on \u2013 Southall, Gay Pride, the Notting Hill Carnival being just a few. Others of the features, although taken with the same rigour, consider lighter topics, such as Britain\u2019s best disco band that never quite made it to the big time \u2013 Liverpool\u2019s The Real Thing, and the \u2018Invention of Punk\u2019 with the advent of the Sex Pistols on the scene; Joan Armatrading gets an article too. One particularly entertaining section looks at the Carry On films\u2019 smuttier cousin, The Confessions of a Window Cleaner <\/em>and its sequels starring Robin Askwith as the hapless Timothy Lea, who had had to be persuaded to take the part.<\/p>\n

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Nevertheless, it turned out he was absolutely the man for the job \u2013 the perfect mix of glam and gormless. And, as he told me, the key thing was that he didn\u2019t play Timothy as a macho man, but more a wimp who got lucky. Over and over again.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Another feature that I remembered well was the arrival of the West Indies fast bowlers Andy Roberts and Michael Holding under the captainship of Clive Lloyd. England\u2019s cricket team had been tried by the Australians the year before with the pace attack of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, who had also battered the West Indies team. But there was something about Roberts and Holding that made them even more intimidating that summer. William tells how veteran batsman, Brian Close, was hit again and again by their high-pitched bowling and how the England captain, Tony Greig, a tall, white South African who was able to play for England, didn\u2019t help with his comments about making the West Indians grovel \u2013 oh dear! My brother was \u2013 is \u2013 cricket mad so the test matches were on in our house, and I grew to enjoy watching cricket too, especially during the Botham heydays of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

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I thoroughly enjoyed reading Heatwave<\/em> \u2013 it was good to be reminded of all the events that happened during those months however grim they were. But nostalgia rules, and I most enjoyed the sections that covered things I did remember which tended to be sunnier and media related. I liked the format of alternating the regular headings with feature articles. Williams has obviously done extensive research for the book, and carried out many interviews to support it. His style is a mixture of entertaining and earnest and never less than readable, and I loved his recollections of being 17 back then, comparing notes with my own experiences. If you were around in 1976, this book will definitely appeal; whether there is a sizeable younger audience is not certain \u2013 but anyone who wants to get a flavour of the mid-1970s will still find much to enjoy and discover.<\/p>\n

Source: Review copy \u2013 thank you! <\/strong> Octopus Monoray hardback, 373 pages incl index etc. <\/p>\n

BUY at Blackwell\u2019s <\/a><\/strong>via my affiliate link (free UK P&P)<\/p>\n

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The 1970s was the decade during which I was a teenager, from start to finish \u2013 encompassing the whole of my time at senior school and my first years at university. 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