BOOKMAKERS Coral has cut the odds on Britain having the hottest June since records began in 1910 to 3-1 from 5-1, despite the unsettled start to the month

And it has given odds of 10-1 that the UK mainland temperature exceeds 100F (37.8C) while it is 12-1 that the UK record temperature high of 38.5C (101.3F) is broken.

And tennis fans could be encouraged as Coral is giving odds of 6-1 that Wimbledon will be entirely rain-free this year.

Ladbrokes has also slashed odds of June being the hottest on record from 20-1 to 6-1 and has cut the odds for it being the hottest summer on record from 2-1 to 6-4.

When a Met Office spokesman was asked about the idea of a heatwave, he said: "I wouldn't say that there's a heatwave on the way. No."

He did say the weather would become "more settled" towards the end of the week with temperatures expected to reach 22C (71.6F) on Thursday, and mid-20s on Friday and Saturday while one or two places might see 26C (78.8F).

"It's certainly not a case that we're getting wall to wall blue skies across the UK on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or even Saturday," he said.

"It is going to be pretty pleasant weather nevertheless, for at least the southern half of the UK.

"There are going to be bright spells, it is going to be dry, the winds are going to have backed off quite a lot and the temperature's going to build."

But there would "not be a switch to tropical weather," he added.