By Brendan O'Neill

The British have always had an odd relationship with the sun - not enough of it at home and far too much abroad. But as the health issues start to sink in and climate change takes hold, is our relationship with the sun changing?

Remember when the sun was seen as a source of suntans, health and vitality? British holidaymakers in particular were known for their love of all things sun-related.

Millions abandoned grey old Blighty every summer for destinations such as Spain, Sydney and Florida, where a couple of hours in the afternoon sun would guarantee that apparently healthy pink glow.

Yet today, sunlight is often discussed as a potentially mortal threat to our health, and suntans as a sign of "skin damage".

And thanks to rising temperatures around the globe, those Englishmen and women who still (despite the health warnings) like to go out in the midday sun no longer have to travel thousands of miles for their fix of ultraviolet rays.

Is our relationship with the sun changing? Are we falling out of love with the big nuclear reactor in the sky?

Mad dogs and Englishmen, take note - according to cancer awareness campaigners, sunbathing, and especially midday sunbathing, is a dangerous pastime.

Cancer Research UK has set up the SunSmart campaign to alert us to the link between sunlight and skin cancer.

A sun tan: the ultimate holiday souvenir

Sara Hiom, information manager at Cancer Research, is determined to challenge Britain's "tanning culture". She says we need to "get back to that Victorian way of thinking where the sun is something to be avoided."

Indeed, government-sponsored health campaigns now encourage us to cover up, Victorian-style, whenever the sun comes out.

During last year's heatwave (yet to replicate itself this year), the Department of Health advised us to "stay in the shade or indoors", or "if you can't avoid being out in the sun, apply sunscreen (factor 15+) and wear a t-shirt, hat and sunglasses."

There was a time when kids' school outings would be cancelled because of rain - now it seems they can be called off if it's too sunny.

In June, Derby city council issued a circular to headteachers, advising: "Try to plan external activities - short-duration trips, external lessons, sports days - for times when the sun is likely to be at its lowest.... Give consideration to postponing or cancelling such events in periods of excessive sun and high temperatures."

Health benefits

Covering up, sitting in the shade, staying indoors - whatever happened to Noel Coward's vision of Englishmen who "detest-a-siesta", who, at the first sign of sunlight, "leave their huts, because they're obviously definitely nuts"?

Some 26 million Brits will head abroad, many for beach resorts

Sara Hiom says it is right to adopt a more cautious attitude towards the sunshine, pointing to the 70,000 cases of skin cancer each year in the UK.

Around 7,000 are malignant, and of these 1,600 prove to be fatal. Skin cancer rates have reportedly been rising in the UK since the 1970s, increasing fourfold in men and threefold in women.

Yet others claim that our changing relationship with the sun can bring its own health problems. Some dermatologists believe that today's emphasis on covering up and powerful sunblocks means that we are missing out on the essential health benefits of sunlight - in particular Vitamin D.

Professor Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine has written a book called The UV Advantage, in which he argues that we should go out in the sun without sunblock for about five or 10 minutes a day, to sustain our Vitamin D levels.

"We get about 90 to 95 per cent of our Vitamin D from the sun", he says. "And Vitamin D is essential for keeping our bones healthy, and for protecting against serious chronic diseases later in life - such as osteoporosis, type II diabetes, multiple sclerosis and many common cancers."

Holick says that Vitamin D can also prevent rickets in children.

Holiday at home

"Unless we take a sensible approach towards sunlight, and stop viewing it as some great evil, then we are going to store up health problems for the future."

So to tan or not to tan? The answer used to be determined by where we chose to go on holiday: at home or abroad. But global warming has brought hotter weather to our shores in recent years.

And we like it. More than two-thirds of English and Scottish prefer "unusually warm weather" to "unusually cold weather", according to European research. And about a quarter said they are now more likely to spend their main annual holiday at home because the weather is better than it used to be.

Of course, millions of Brits still go abroad. Indeed, 26 million - almost half of the population - will travel overseas this year. The damp and miserable July has prompted record last-minute bookings, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.