WHAT is special about today, June 24?

Not very much, to be honest. If you're at a loose end tonight, the winners of this year's York Design Awards are being announced in a glitzy ceremony at the University of York from 6pm. But you'll have to wait for tomorrow for the opening performance at this year's pop-up Shakespeare's Rose Theatre in the Castle car park (Hamlet, since you ask).

June 24 doesn't seem to be dedicated to any particular saints; it isn't a bank holiday; and there aren't even any really notable historical events that happened on this day - unless you count Robert the Bruce's defeat of the English at Bannockburn in 1314 (which, being English, we probably don't) or the coronation of King Henry VIII in 1509.

But you can always find something which happened 'on this day' at some point in the past, if you look hard enough. And, being at a bit of a loose end, that's precisely what we did. A trawl though The Press's electronic photo archive for June 24 yielded a series of photographs dating as far back as 1925. Several of them seem to be Royal occasions, so maybe there's something about June 24 and Royalty, at least in York.

So here we are, in date order - with the first three photos all relating to a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York (later king George VI and Queen Elizabeth, better known in later life as the Queen Mother) on June 24, 1925...

1. The Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) with Archbishop Cosmo Lang on her visit to York on Wednesday June 24, 1925

2. The Duchess of York talking to Lady Bell outside the Minster. This part of the visit of June 24, 1925, was for the unveiling of the Five Sisters window. The 13th century glass had been removed during the First World War to keep it safe. It was then renovated and restored as a memorial to the women of the Empire who gave their lives in the war. At the Minster there was a guard of honour of 150 men and women from the North Riding section of the British Red Cross Society under the command of Major Sir Robert Bower, County Director and Controller. There was a service at 3pm which was followed by tea with the Dean at the Deanery and the Duke's unveiling of the York War Memorial

3. The Duke and Duchess of York descending the steps of York County Hospital, with the Archbishop of York Cosmo Lang behind, on June 24, 1925. The bald man just behind the Duke of York is John Bickle, the General Clerk of Works for the York Corporation. He resigned due to ill-health in 1928 but lived until 1955. The man next to John Bickle, with a stick, is James "Jimmy" Melrose, who had been Lord Mayor of York in 1876-7 and was Chairman of the York Race Committee for many years from 1875 onwards and also a senior magistrate in York and the North Riding. He lived in Clifton Croft and Melrosegate is named after him. He died in 1929, aged 100, and so was 97 when this picture was taken

4. Penny for her thoughts? An elderly passerby is bemused at seeing men of the Arab Legion at Micklegate Bar on June 24, 1955. The soldiers were on a tour of the city

5. Princess Mary, the Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, shaking hands with the Archbishop of York Dr A M Ramsey after the opening service of York Festival in the Minster on June 24, 1957

6. The new GPO Sorting Office in York's Leeman Road on June 24, 1969

7. June 24, 1989, when Bill and Pat Cowell - who we assume were husband and wife - were captain and lady captain respectively at Heworth Golf Club. It was clearly a rare enough even to merit a news photograph...

Stephen Lewis