Summer 1998 – what was hot and what was not

It’s our 20th anniversary and we’re  planning some celebrations later in the year. We thought we would get the ball rolling with a look at what was happening in summer of ’98 – what was hot and what left us cold.

The average house price was round £112,000, ASBOS became a thing in 1998 and a new £2 coin came into circulation.

In sport, Pete Sampras won Wimbledon and France had just won the FIFA Wold Cup – beating Brazil 3-0. Sound familiar?

Three Lions ’98 had a three-week stint in the charts – at least until England came home. This summer has had a familiar ring about it. The Spice Girls, Boyzone and All Saints were all hot while the album chart was dominated by the Corrs and their album Talk on Corners.

Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg’s movie about the D-Day landings, was taking cinema audiences by storm, there was Something About Mary and Marvel’s The Avengers assembled on the big screen for the first time.

Unfortunately, the summer weather in 1998 was not quite as nice as it has been so far this year. Summer 1998 was one of the coldest, dullest summers on record for the UK. June and July were also noted as the second wettest combination of months since records began in 1869!

Due to the weather more of us than usual jetted off in search of the sun. Over 50 million visits abroad were made in 1998. The vast bulk of these trips were package holiday flights to Spain, Turkey and Greece.

It seems that this year is a little different and more of us than ever before are staying at home and making the most of what the UK has to offer.