LARGE crowds will flock to Magdalen Bridge in Oxford on Friday, as they have on May Morning for centuries.

Few of them will catch sight of the choristers singing the Hymnus Eucharisticus from Magdalen College tower at 6am, but with a bit of luck, some below will hear them.

In the 60s, police were strategically placed to keep the revellers on the pavement so that a two-way traffic flow could be maintained.

In 1965, May Day spirits boiled over when student pranksters somehow managed to hoist a bike on to University College’s flag pole.

East Oxford School had a long tradition of celebrating May Day.

In 1970, May Queens from the past were invited to take part in the festivities.

They are pictured, back, from left: Hilda Masters (May Queen in 1926), Olive Newman (1944), Sybil Bloomfield (1931), Vera Bourne (the school’s first May Queen in 1920), Gillian Conway (1966), Ann Sullivan (1945) and Christine Newman (1965). Front: Maria Masters, two, Mrs Masters’s grand-daughter, Lorraine Grant, 16, May Queen in 1969, and the 1970 May Queen, Anne Yates, 15.

Boys and girls celebrated with a series of dances.