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THE QUEEN AT 80: 80 great royal memories
TO CELEBRATE the Queen's 80th birthday, Buckingham Palace released a list of 80 facts about the Queen. Here, we publish 80 facts about the Queen – with a Peterborough twist. Compiled by Rachel Wareing.
TO CELEBRATE the Queen's 80th birthday, Buckingham Palace released a list of 80 facts about the Queen. Here, we publish 80 facts about the Queen – with a Peterborough twist. Compiled by Rachel Wareing.
1 There are 332,016 people called Elizabeth in the UK – and 841 of them live in the Peterborough area.
2 The Queen is patron of Sue Ryder Care, which has a centre at Thorpe Hall, Longthorpe, Peterborough.
3 The Queen donated an undisclosed sum of money towards Peterborough Cathedral's 7.3 million fund-raising drive in 1998.
4 After a devastating blaze at the Cathedral in 2002, she made another generous donation towards its restoration.
5 It is 43.6 miles to Sandringham House in Norfolk, where the Queen spends Christmas.
6 Peterborough railwaymen Ernest Harris, Roy Topham and Ian Swift drove the Royal Train when the Queen visited Lincoln in 1980.
7 Jamie Betts, a pupil at Casterton Community College, near Stamford, was one of 6,000 youngsters who marched through the Mall with daffodils to mark the Queen's 60th birthday.
8 Springfields Garden manager Peter Atkinson and Spalding man Rob Teeuw, chairman of the British Bulb Exporters, were responsible for sending a special flower-clad float and 12,000 daffodil bulbs to London as part of the celebrations.
9 The biggest street party in Peterborough held for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 was in All Saints Road, where 500 people took part.
10 Hundreds of pupils at Peterborough High School formed a huge number 50 on their playing field to celebrate the anniversary.
11 Pupils at Parnwell Primary School dressed up as Adam Ant, Cliff Richard and Elvis to celebrate 50 years of music during the Queen's reign.
12 Theatre-goers at the Broadway were able to buy tickets to an Agatha Christie play at 1952 prices – 1.50 per ticket.
13 Cleaner Doreen Hancock was invited to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace in honour of her 20 years of service at Peterborough Town Hall.
14 Werrington woman Valerie Nathan and her family were present at a Royal Garden Party where two women were knocked unconscious by a bolt of lightning in 1996.
15 The Queen is patron of the Shire Horse Society, which is based at the East of England show in Alwalton, near Peterborough.
16 She is the fifth successive reigning monarch to bestow patronage on the society.
17 She visited the Shire Horse Show at the Showground in 1978.
18 Patriotic students at Eastholm School in Peterborough celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession by repairing their flag pole and raising the Union Jack.
19 In 1997, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their Golden Wedding, along with Peterborough couples including Barry and Pauline Henson of Cherry Tree Grove, Dogsthorpe; Philip and Elinor Ashworth of Svenskaby, Orton Wistow; and Douglas and Kathleen Harbour of Dogsthorpe.
20 Four little girls from Stanground – Antonietta Salona, Susan Bruwster, Sharon Smith and Helen Corraghan, pooled their pocket money to buy a card for the Queen to mark her 34th birthday – and were astonished to receive a thank-you letter.
21 In 1991, Arthur Mellows Village College pupil Janina Sweeny (13) won an Evening Telegraph competition to design a 65th birthday card for the Queen.
22 There are six Royal families in Peterborough – that is, six homes occupied by people with the surname Royal.
23 The most regal streets in the city include Queen's Drive West, Queen's Gardens and Queen Street in the city centre, Queen's Street, in New Fletton, and Queen's Walk, in Woodston.
24 Stamford has Queen's Walk and Queen's Street, Market Deeping has Queen's Avenue, and Whittlesey and Yaxley have Queen Street.
25 Let's not forget Queensgate.
26 In 1983, Emma Strain (5), of Engaine, Orton Longueville, wrote to the Queen asking for a corgi – but received a letter back saying the Queen doesn't give away her corgis.
27 In 1982, the Queen met the Royal Air Force Regiment, of which she is Air Commodore In Chief, when she visited RAF Wittering.
28 The Queen made a special request to The Evening Telegraph in 2000, asking for permission to use pictures taken by ET photographers Paul Franks and David Lowndes of the Princess Royal's visit to the city in 2000.
29 The first monarch in recorded history to visit Peterborough was Peada, first Christian king of Mercia in AD 655.
30 King Canute and his Queen Emma were almost shipwrecked when they visited and were caught in a storm while trying to cross the vast lake of Whittlesey Mere in 1070.
3 1Hundreds of residents in the Peterborough area have received honours from the Queen over the years.
32 They include the late Dick Elsey, of Fotheringhay, near Oundle, who received an MBE in 2003 after delivering newspapers in the village for more than 70 years.
33 The news of the Queen's accession was proclaimed from the steps of Peterborough Town Hall on Friday, February 8, 1952.
34 The Peterborough Advertiser was the first to receive the sad news of the death of King George VI and the accession of his daughter Elizabeth to the throne.
35 When news of the King's death was received, the Union Jack was immediately lowered to half mast on Peterborough Cathedral as a sign of respect.
36 The whole of the city took a holiday for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953. With few households owning a TV set, crowds gathered at cinemas and community halls. Fletton Ex-Serviceman's Club attracted the highest number – by 9.30am there were already 50 people queueing for a seat.
37 At Stanground, the Coronation was marked by a tea party for 700 children. Souvenir mugs were presented to three to 10-year-olds and older guests received a copy of Richard Dimbleby's book Elizabeth Our Queen.
38 The city spent 3,500 on celebrations to mark the coronation.
39 Miss Bridget Harrison, of Granville Street, was crowned Coronation Princess.
40 Villagers also took part in a tug-o-war across the River Welland between Deeping Gate and the Welland.
41 The only Peterborough resident to see the Coronation with their own eyes was Mr A Lister Robinson, the city mayor.
42 He later recalled sitting in his seat in Westminster Abbey from 5.45am until 4.45pm and seeing Queen Salote of Tonga walk proudly down the aisle dripping wet from the rain.
43 The Cresset sport and leisure complex in Bretton and the Magistrates' Court were both opened by the Queen in 1978.
44 A crowd of 2,000 greeted the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh when they arrived at Peterborough station.
45 The Royal Anglian Regiment greeted them with a fanfare as they stepped off the train.
46 Attendance at the Shire Horse Show, which she also popped in to see, doubled from the previous year.
47 The city council spent 500 on bunting to decorate the streets.
48 The Development Corporation sent out teams of workers to pick up rubbish in preparation for the visit.
49 Jane Green (9) and Tracy Toms (7), of Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, wriggled past the police cordon to present the royal couple with carnation button-holes they had bought with their pocket money.
50 More than 60 street parties were organised across the city to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
51 Then mayor, Jean Barker, sent a special message to the Queen on behalf of Peterborough.
52 Six Scouts from Market Deeping spent Jubilee Day inside Buckingham Palace, giving the Queen their own personal message of congratulations and were asked to sign the visitors' book.
53 Nene Valley Railway was set up in the Silver Jubilee year.
54 Industry in Peterborough presented Peterborough City Council with a pair of silver candlebra to mark the Silver Jubilee.
55 A commemorative village sign was erected by the people of Peakirk to mark the Silver Jubilee, at a cost of 200.
56 Princess Anne received a trophy from her own mother when she became a show-jumping champion at the European Horse Trials at Burghley House, Stamford, in 1971.
57 When the Queen attended the Burghley Horse trials in 1966, crowds flocked to see the Royal Train arrive at Peterborough's North station.
58 Groups of cheering people waved as she passed through St Leonards Street, over the Crescent Bridge to Longthorpe.
59 Her fans also gathered at Castor and Ailsworth, and near to the Wansford flyover as the car joined the A1 to Burghley.
60 At Peterborough station as the Queen boarded her train home, excited crowds surged through the police barriers to get a final glimpse of her.
61 The Queen visited in 1988 to mark the cathedral's 750th anniversary.
62 She also visited Peterborough Business Park and opened Edith Cavell Hospital.
63 At the hospital, she met three elderly cousins of Edith Cavell, a heroic city nurse who cared for soldiers during the First World War.
64 She arrived in an ordinary Inter City 125 train – in a carriage that was in regular use by commuters.
65 She was greeted on the steps pf the cathedral by the Bishop, the Rt. Rev William Westwood – whose son is Radio 1 DJ Tim.
66The Queen caused traffic hold-ups when she visited the East of England Show in 1991 as 3,000 extra visitors piled through the turnstiles to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty.
67 The day was one of the rare occasions when she has worn peach.
68 Her husband made a fashion statement of his own – a Panama hat.
69 The Queen made her first official visit as reigning monarch in 1975.
70 She gave out 98 Maundy purses to the elderly in the Cathedral – 49 to men and 49 to women, because she was aged 49.
71 Pensioner Evelyn King, of Pennine Way, Peterborough, was one of those singled out by the Queen for a special hello during a walkabout.
72 Julie Swift, daughter of then council leader Charles Swift, was picked to hand a posy to the Queen on the steps of the town hall.
73 City councillors paid 4 per head when they dined with the Queen at the town hall.
74 At Her Majesty's request, lamb was on the menu.
75 Head chef at the George Hotel in Stamford, Aldo Rossi, was in charge of the lunch.
76 Police mounted their biggest ever security operation and threw a security screen around the cathedral.
77 More than 3,200 people packed the ancient cathedral for the historic service.
78 The Queen was presented with a picture of a steam engine by 19-year-old Michael Coe, of Paston Lane, Peterborough.
79 When the Queen visited the Baker Perkins stand at the National Education and Careers Exhibition in London in 1959, she showed particular interest in a model of a plant for making Swiss rolls, made by apprentices.
80 Pinchbeck shot putter Geoff Capes shook hands with the Queen at the Braemar Highland Games in Aberdeenshire in 1982 – and left her with sticky palms from the resin he had smeared on to improve his grip on the caber.
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