Today marks the 30th anniversary of the early May public holiday, and it has had a fairly torrid history ever since. When James Callaghan introduced the holiday in 1978 he must have hoped to bask in a warm spring day, but instead he got a wet, cold and utterly miserable one – except for Scotland where it was wonderfully dry and sunny, although there was no Bank Holiday there.

It was an ominous start to a public holiday often cursed with rain, cold, frost, gales, thunderstorms, hail, tornados or flooding. In 1997 May had begun with a sensational heat-wave and all seemed set for a top-rate holiday weekend. But it all went horribly wrong on Bank Holiday Monday when a fearsome snowstorm struck and left a thick carpet of snow as far south as Wales and Derbyshire. Next day the snow remained so thick on the ground that many schools in Wales had to stay shut.

This raises the question of why bother to have an early May Bank Holiday at all. At this time the seas around the UK are still cold, leaving the seaside chilly and sometimes wrapped in mist. Westerly winds are usually at their slackest for the year, which can leave the way open for invasions of Arctic winds that leave the country shivering.