No, there wasn’t a “phew, what a scorcher!” The closest was the Sun’s silly headline “Scotchio!” It was based on the fact that Andy Murray, a Scot of course, won his Wimbledon match “in 30C heat”.
Elsewhere, national newspaper headline writers avoided puns over articles about the heatwave, although some others also linked it to Britain’s annual open tennis tournament:
“Wilting Wimbledon cuts number of spectators as temperatures hit 41C on centre court” (The Independent); “Game sweat and match to Murray” (Daily Star) and “No sweat for Murray or Federer in the first round – but quite a bit more for spectators” (The Guardian).
Most preferred drama: “Chaos on the commute as 95F predicted” (Daily Telegraph); “Havoc on hottest day for a decade” (Daily Mail); “Britain buckles in the heat on a day of chaos” (The Times) and “Killer heat blasts Britain” (Daily Express).
Metro’s was very straight, “The heat is on”. But I liked the Daily Mirror’s front page choice, “Hotter than the Sahara”, not least because it accompanied a fine picture taken at sunrise.
The Telegraph thought the hot weather worthy of a leading article in order to scorn official advice to carry a bottle of water, this represents a triumph of nannying risk aversion over the normal comportment of civil life.”
Quentin Letts, in the Daily Mail, was even more upset in his op-ed article, “Only nanny state Britain could turn this glorious sunshine into a national crisis!”
The Sun, redeeming itself for that awful news page headline, published the best comment of all:
“The heatwave is challenging the laws of physics. Network Rail is ordering trains to run slower out of London. We didn’t know it was possible.”
