UK's heatwave forces Lord's to relax jacket rule

LONDON: Sweltering temperatures in Britain forced even the famously conservative Marylebone Cricket Club into a rare concession - allowing men to disregard its strict dress code and enter the pavilion at the iconic Lord's ground without a jacket. A tie was still required.

Thursday saw the highest temperature recorded in the UK since July 1, 2015 as the temperature reached 35.1°C at Wisley, Surrey, making Britain, traditionally known for its cold, grey and rainy weather, suddenly the hottest country in Europe.

"This was unprecedented. Our groundsman said it was the hottest day he could ever remember," a spokesman for Marylebone Cricket Club told TOI. Lord's Cricket Ground tweeted a picture a few hours later saying: "With the London heatwave in full-effect, a jacket-less Pavilion watches on."

The Indian cricket team too found it very hot to play a four-day warm-up match against Essex in Chelmsford, and therefore, asked for it to be reduced by a day.

Twitter, meanwhile, groaned under the considerable weight of outrage at slipping sartorial standards. Responses to a Lord's tweet about the heat and dress code ranged from "Does one not own linen??? Preposterous slippage of standards! Not long now and the Pavilion will resemble aisle 7 of @asda on a Saturday morning…" to "Was THAT how we won an Empire? WAS IT?!"

Searing temperatures across UK this week have caught Britain by surprise with air-conditioning units and fans selling like hotcakes. The country is experiencing its longest heatwave since 1976.

The Met office and Public Health England issued the UK's second-highest heatwave warning - 'amber alert', urging people to stay out of the sun between 11 am and 3 pm (local time) and keep their curtains drawn, warning of a possible threat to life and property .

The Eurotunnel, which transports cars on shuttle trains through the Channel Tunnel between France and England, cancelled thousands of tickets on Friday following huge delays on Thursday after air conditioning broke down on board some of its carriages. The Eurotunnel blamed it on "prolonged and unprecedented temperatures in the south east of England".

The British heatwave had begun at the end of June and temperatures were expected to reach 36o C or 37o C in parts of the UK on Friday, dubbed as "Furnace Friday".

The most recent heatwave in the UK prior to this was in July 2015 when temperatures peaked at 36.7 °C at Heathrow on July 1, a temperature that is currently the July all-time maximum record. The all-time record in the UK is 38.5° C at Faversham on August 10, 2003. But the Met office warned of thundery downpours across eastern parts of England on Friday before fresher, more changeable conditions in the northwest finally make their way east across the UK.