The average afternoon summer temperature in France is about the same as 100 years ago, as is the frequency of hot days. This summer has been unusual not because of the number of hot days, but rather a lack of cool days. Very similar to the situation in the US.
The number of stations has increased quite a bit, and the average latitude has moved towards the equator by more than two degrees, which probably accounts for the entire warming trend since 1955. This is the sort of garbage in the GHCN record which makes the global temperature record meaningless.
