Remembering the long hot summer of 1976, when both water and sex were in short supply

During the 1976 heatwave, a Super Split cost one-and-a-half pence

Tanya Sweeney

No doubt your armpits could have told you the same ages go but it’s now official: we are in a heatwave. With Met Eireann’s definition of this being ‘over five consecutive days with a maximum temperature of over 25C’ we have reached a point where barbecue smoke is in the air, paddling pools are as coveted as Porsches and night-time is decidedly unrelaxing.