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This year’s Wimbledon tennis championships have begun with the hottest opening day on record, according to the Met Office.
Temperatures reached a provisional high of 29.7C (85.5F) at Kew Gardens in west London on Monday afternoon, surpassing the previous record of 29.3C set in June 2001.
Spectators queued from the early hours to enter the All England Club in south-west London, with many using fans, umbrellas and sunscreen to cope with the heat.
Vicki Broad, 57, a retired nurse from Swansea, who was the first person in the queue, said: “The sun has been tough but we’re in the shade now.”
Paul Jackson, from Stockport, told the PA news agency: “We were a bit worried about the heat but it’s been manageable. We’ve been drinking water, wearing hats and making the most of the shade.”
The competition has drawn crowds from around the globe, some managing the weather better than others. Maria Iniesta, 47, a physician from Madrid living in Houston, said: “It’s been funny to watch the British people sweating – it’s been easy for us.”
Warnings over extreme heat have been extended across much of England as temperatures are set to climb to 34C in one of the hottest June days on record.
The Met Office said temperatures would rise above 30C widely across England, including in places such as Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol and Cambridge, with highs of 34C in London and south-east England.
Monday is set to be one of the hottest June days ever, with UK temperatures in the month having surpassed 34C in only three years since 1960. The hottest June day ever was 35.6C, recorded on 28 June 1976.
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Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis, and experts have described heatwaves as “silent killers”, with the effects of heat severely underestimated.
They say the UK is unprepared for the rising risk of extremely hot conditions that the climate crisis is bringing – especially earlier in the summer, when people are less acclimatised to coping with it.
