On This Day: Britain shivers through the coldest month of the 20th century

JAN 31, 1963: Britain endured the final day of the coldest month of the 20th century on this day in 1963 in what became known as the Big Freeze.

Snow drifts of over 20ft were common, while temperatures were so low that the sea froze off the Kent coast and people went ice skating on the Thames.

The country was so crippled by the cold that January’s FA Cup third round fixtures took 66 days to complete and some clubs resorted to flying abroad to play each other.

A British Pathé newsreel filmed housewives with wheelbarrows collecting sacks of coal from mines as deliveries were impossible and power cuts had been widespread.

Grinning children, who were given days off school due to the fuel shortages, were also shown collecting water after pipes in their homes froze.

Meanwhile a family are all shown huddling around a fire while another resort to making dinner by heating up a pan of food with candles.

Also, were workers at a football club desperately trying to clear the snow – but, as it was in the days before under-soil heating, it was to no avail.

Hundreds of fixtures were cancelled during the Big Freeze, which began in December did not end until a thaw began in March.

Bolton Wonderers did not play any of their scheduled matches between December 8 and February 16.

But one cup tie – between Scottish sides Stranraer and Airdrie set the record with the match postponed and astonishing 33 times.

[On This Day: Hurricane Betsy kills 76 in New Orleans in deadliest storm before Katrina]

And Coventry City resorted to playing Manchester United in Dublin.

To allow the football pools betting competition to continue, a panel of experts convened for four Saturdays in a row to in January to forecast the likely results.

The newsreel filmed the adjudicating members, who included chairman Lord Brabazon, wartime RAF hero Douglas Bader and England international Tom Finney.

Other avenues for gambling were virtually closed off after there was also no horse racing between December 23 and March 7.

With temperatures plummeting as low as –16C, and the mercury averaging –2.1C for January, travel was made almost impossible.

Airports closed, train services were cancelled and roads were often blocked by snowdrifts.

[On This Day: Volunteer sea rescuers die after their lifeboat capsizes during a heavy storm]

The widespread ice also severed thousands of phone lines as well as power cables.

Canals were frozen across the country and the Thames was solid as far as Windsor – with skating and even cycling possible.

The river managed to stay ice free in central London, however, largely due to its then two power stations and embankments.

It was even worse on the coast where the sea froze for the first time in 200 years – with a one-mile stretch of ice at Herne Bay, Kent and four miles off Dunkirk, France.

Despite this the channel stayed open and the Royal Navy managed to keep Chatham dockyard open by using an icebreaker but docks remained closed with ice floes.

The chaos forced the price of food up 30 per cent and forced councils across Britain to raise taxes to pay for the damage and snow-clearing operations.

Despite, a few warmer days at the beginning of February, the month did not offer any reprieve.

Gale-force winds measures at 119mph in places caused devastating blizzard and the more snow fell than in January.

The Big Freeze did not end until March 6, which was the first day without frost anywhere in Britain that year, and temperatures rapidly reached 17C.

It was the coldest winter since 1814, with only 1739–40 seeing lower average temperatures in records dating back to 1659.