In pictures: How the UK handled the 1970s blackouts

James Morris
Candlelit bars and outdoor haircuts: some of the measures used during the 1970s blackouts. (Getty Images)
Candlelit bars and outdoor haircuts: some of the responses to the 1970s blackouts. (Getty Images)

The UK's energy crisis has taken another alarming turn with warnings planned blackouts could hit the nation this winter if power plants cannot get enough gas to keep running.

In what it called an “unlikely” scenario, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure the grid does not collapse.

If it was to happen, it would be the first time in five decades that the UK is affected by such power outages.

Blackouts famously hit the UK during the 1970s in response to the miners’ strikes and the oil crisis.

The industrial action - prompted by miners demanding pay in line with inflation rates - eventually led to Edward Heath's Conservative government imposing a three-day week in 1974 to save electricity supplies.

Those early '70s blackouts were characterised by bizarre scenes from haircuts in the street to long queues for candles. Here, Yahoo News UK digs into the picture archives to show how Britons handled the repeated blackouts.

11th February 1972: People in London using candles to read newspaper headlines about the continuing miners' strike. Pay talks aimed at ending the five-week strike have failed and Britain is plunged into a massive power crisis resulting in job losses, traffic chaos and blackouts. (Photo by Ian Showell/Keystone/Getty Images)
People in London in February 1972 using candles to read newspaper headlines about the continuing miners' strike. Pay talks aimed at ending the five-week strike had failed and Britain was plunged into a power crisis. (Getty Images) (Ian Showell via Getty Images)
Reduced Service on Commuter Trains, due to power cuts, New Street Station, Birmingham, Monday 14th February 1972. (Photo by Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
People read notices about reduced train services, due to power cuts, at Birmingham New Street station in February 1972. (Getty Images) (Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Customers having their hair cut on the pavement in Hatton Garden, London, due to power cuts following a miners' strike, UK, 17th February 1972. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Customers having their hair cut on the pavement in Hatton Garden, London, due to power cuts following a miners' strike in February 1972. (Getty Images) (Evening Standard via Getty Images)
University Students, chopping logs, Cambridge Street, Birmingham, 22nd February 1972. (Photo by Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
University students chop logs in Birmingham in February 1972 amid the power crisis. (Getty Images) (Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
The Cecil Gee menswear store on Shaftesbury Avenue advertises haircuts for 5 pence during the power cuts in London, UK, 21st February 1972. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Cecil Gee menswear store in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, advertises 5p haircuts during the power cuts in February 1972. (Getty Images) (Evening Standard via Getty Images)
Radio newsreader Alan Rogers tells listeners about the power crisis - with candles lighting his studio. An electricity cut blacked out Radio London's headquarters as Alan was about to go on the air on Thursday night (10-2-72). But programmes continued, with candles and car batteries providing emergency lighting. The radio station was one of thousands of buildings hit by surprise power cuts - the first since the start of the five-week-old miners' strike. The cold snap forced electricity chiefs to make cuts throughout Britain a day earlier than expected. February 1972 P018764 (Photo by WATFORD/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Radio London newsreader Alan Rogers tells listeners about the power crisis - with candles lighting his studio - during the blackout in February 1972. (Getty Images) (Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Wine shop, still open during blackout, selling wine by candlelight, Priory Ringway, Birmingham. Monday 17th December 1973. Peter Dominic . (Photo by Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
A candlelit wine shop in Birmingham remains open during a blackout in December 1973. (Getty Images) (Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
A post office in Trafalgar Square, London, functioning under emergency lamplight during an industrial power strike. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)
A post office in Trafalgar Square, London, functioning under emergency lamplight amid the industrial power strikes. (Getty Images) (Evening Standard via Getty Images)
A man in eighteenth century dress asks an Indian couple to sign a petition against the government's attempt to save energy with a three-day working week, Leicester Square, London, 21st February 1974. The petition is to be presented to British Prime Minister Edward Heath. (Photo by P. Wade/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A man in 18th century dress asks a couple in London's Leicester Square to sign a petition against the government's attempt to save energy with a three-day working week in February 1974. (Getty Images) (P. Wade via Getty Images)
Customers and staff at the HMV shop in Oxford Street, London, during a power-cut, 19th December 1973. Power cuts, intended to conserve fuel during the miners strike, are a regular occurrence. (Photo by Angela Deane-Drummond/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Customers and staff in Oxford Street's HMV during a power cut in December 1973. Power cuts, intended to conserve fuel during the miners' strike, had become a regular occurrence. (Getty Images) (Angela Deane-Drummond via Getty Images)
Four women working in an office in Bond Street, London during the power cuts of 1973-74, which were caused by the miners' strike. Luckily for these women, the cold is not a problem, as they work for Slumberdown and are able to wrap themselves in Slumberdown continental quilts to keep warm. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)
Four women working in an office in Bond Street, London, during the power cuts of 1973/74, which were caused by the miners' strike. Luckily for them, the cold was not a problem as they worked for Slumberdown and were able to wrap themselves in quilts. (Getty Images) (Evening Standard via Getty Images)
Members of the public, anticipating power cuts, patiently queue outside a Fleet Street shop this morning to purchase candles. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Members of the public, anticipating power cuts, queue outside a Robert Dyas branch in Fleet Street, London, to purchase candles. (Getty Images) (PA Images via Getty Images)
Power Cuts effect Public Houses, with patrons forced to drink by Candlelight, Newcastle, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear. 8th December 1970. (Photo by NCJ Archive/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
A candlelit pub in Newcastle-upon-Tyne following a power cut in December 1970. (Getty Images) (Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

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