Britain was today in the grip of a mini heatwave with forecasters predicting the warmest October 27 on record.

Temperatures in some parts of the country were expected to reach 23C (73.4F), beating a previous best of 20.3C (68.5F) set in London on October 27, 1888.

The one-day heatwave has been attributed to an influx of warm air drawn from North Africa by an Atlantic depression.

By 11am today, Moray Firth in northeast Scotland had recorded a temperature of 18C (64F). An hour later, Edinburgh and London had both reached 20C (68F).

If temperatures reach the predicted heights, northern Scotland will be warmer than Athens.

Experts expect today's temperatures are a one-day blip. Forecasters say that scattered showers will return by the weekend and temperatures are unlikely to reach these heights again before April, after the coldest winter in a decade.

The record temperature is the continuation of a trend which is likely to make 2005 the second warmest on record and has heightened fears of global warming.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "One single event can not be attributed to global warming but there is no doubt that we are seeing the underlying trend of temperatures is rising."

New climate data released by Nasa, based on recordings from 7,200 weather stations all over the world, suggest that global temperatures this year are about 0.75C (1.4F) above the average between 1950 and 1980.

Government and independent scientists report other dramatic signs of global warming, such as the shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice cover, and high ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico which have triggered a record number of hurricanes in the US.

The unusually mild weather has also thrown nature into disarray, with snowdrops reported flowering in St Austell, Cornwall

On October 27, 1888, the East Africa Question was the main story in The Times as Britain, Germany and Belgium prepared to take action against the Arab slave traders of Africa.

It read: "This magnanimous act justifies hope that it will excite the desire of imitation in other benevolent hearts, seeing the solution of the African slave question is a duty of our century."

In an interview with the BBC, Prince Charles today said that tackling climate change was now "the greatest challenge to face man."

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