Bank holiday’s were introduced to Britain in 1169 by the then King, Henry the Second. However, they didn’t really take off until the late 15th century, when banks were invented.

The tradition of vast swathes of the population heading for the seaside for Bank Holidays was started in 1655, when Oliver Cromwell’s troops would set fire to all the towns in an early attempt at sanitation. When Charles II returned to the throne in 1660, the practice of town-burning was abandoned, but people kept returning to the beaches to look for their keys, which they had lost while swimming.

There used to be a lot more Bank Holidays than there are now. In fact, there were as many as forty at one point, meaning that bank workers had almost as many days off a year as teachers.

The number was later reduced by Queen Victoria, who had a bad experience with a Bank Holiday as a young girl and banned all but three of them. She also made it illegal for people to say “Brighton” in the royal presence.

The longest Bank Holiday ever lasted from April 1962 until August 1978. It was taken by John Farraday, a teller from the Norwich branch of the Natwest, who later died of whelk poisoning.