What was Luton Carnival like in the scorching summer of ’76?published at 12:13 BST
12:13 BST
Fifty years ago – during the driest summer since 1772 – Luton’s carnival began.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,
The summer of 1976 was one of the hottest and driest we’ve had
The first event took place to mark Luton borough’s centenary. There was a summer of celebrations, including Victorian fairs, parades and fancy dress.
Marilyn Gearing, 88, was there.
She said: “Everybody was dressed in Victorian costumes. Oh, it was wonderful… the girls had boaters on and Victorian blouses… boaters were everywhere.”
And it was quite a summer.
Then unknown film director George Lucas was filming something called Star Wars nearby in Elstree, Brotherhood of Man had just won Eurovision for the UK and Elton John and Kiki Dee had spent six weeks at number one.
Though, with Elton’s Watford FC ties, he may not have been everyone’s carnival soundtrack of choice.