Rainbow Valley

The Big Freeze Boxing Day evening 1962 The Christmas Number One at the top of the hit parade was Return to Sender by Elvis Presley All around the country, families were settling down after a busy two days of eating, drinking and making merry. Small screen entertainment on the tv that evening included a hilarious variety show from the London Palladium featuring Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom and the BBCs big Boxing Day movie was Moulin Rouge starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor And then, it began to snow. A day late and tantalisingly close to giving the country a proper White Christmas, but snow nevertheless. The temperature dropped…..and it continued to snow. And it snowed and snowed, and it got colder. And it snowed and it snowed some more And that was how it would be for the next one hundred days or so as Britain was plunged into an icy wilderness that would last until the following March. Industry ground to halt as businesses and schools were forced to close. There was widespread panic as ambulances an