What was the best year to be alive? Can anyone ever really say, given it depends so much on your parameters, and, crucially, when, where and to whom you were born.
That said, there’s always someone willing to crunch the numbers and come up with an official answer.
Perhaps the most scientific study to date is one by the New Economics Foundation, which concluded that we reached peak happiness in the UK in 1976.
That verdict was based on the think tank’s own ‘measure of domestic progress’ (MDP), a radical alternative to ‘gross domestic product’ (GDP) that looks beyond the economy and considers how overall well-being has changed for the average household.
Most people remember 1976 for the long hot summer, perhaps romanticised by those who lived through it and recall happy days at the local lido above those spent queueing under the sweltering sun to collect water from standpipes in the street.
You may remember the strikes, the plummeting pound and soaring inflation, but there was plenty to make up for that, the records show, including lower crime, narrowing income inequality and greater public investment.
We’ve opted for a less scientific approach when it comes to choosing our reasons why 1976 was the best year to be alive, all backed up with the photos to help prove that assertion.
Will 1976 forever be the year we, as a country, achieved peak happiness, before throwing away the progress we had made, in search of economic growth?
Whatever the answer, it’s fair to say 2026 ranks pretty low so far, opening as it has done with global destruction, the crippling cost of living, and rising unemployment.
1. The weather
The long, hot summer of 1976 will never be forgotten by those who lived through it. Yes, there were standpipes in some, as reservoirs ran dry during the drought. But for most children growing up then, the abiding memories are of endless days down the park or cooling off at their local lido, in a time when most people were blissfully unaware of the impending climate crisis. | Johnston Press
2. The rise of punk music
1976 was the year punk music came crashing into the public consciousness in the UK, as The Clash played their first gig and the Sex Pistols barged their way into the top 40. After the highs of the 1960s, music had flatlined a bit during the first half of the 70s. But Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer and co helped restore the edge that had been missing. | Getty Images Photo: Graham Wood/Evening Standard
3. The toys
A youngster is pictured here in a toy shop in 1976, which was a golden year for toys. That was when slime was first sold, to the delight of youngsters and the horror of their parents. It was also the year the first 'Eagle Eyes' Action Man figures, with swivelling eyes, were released, and other popular toys included Lite Brite and Magna Doodle. | Johnston Press
4. The year we went supersonic
Concorde made its first commercial flight in January 1976, making supersonic flight a reality for ordinary passengers. OK, so it wasn't quite as exciting as the moon landing seven years earlier, but this was a breakthrough that, if you could afford the sky-high fares, you could be a part of yourself, and the UK was leading the way, with France. | Getty Images Photo: Evening Standard