As a symbol, the oak has always represented strength, loyalty and longevity in many cultures throughout England and beyond. For centuries, people would wear a piece of oak around their necks for good luck. Successful Roman commanders were presented with crowns of oak leaves during their victory parades. In the Celtic Tree Alphabet, each of the Celtic year’s three months is associated with a particular tree and its contribution to humanity and nature; the oak’s is June 10 to July 17.

Andrea Alciato's Emblematum liber (Book of Emblems), published in 1531, was a collection of 212 Latin emblem poems, each consisting of a motto, a picture and an epigrammatic text. No. 200 is the oak and reads:

The oak tree is pleasing to Jupiter, who protects and nurtures us:
an oaken crown is given to one who saves a fellow-citizen

William Wordsworth saw oak-like qualities in the Whig politician, Edmund Burke, who supported the American colonies' fight for independence and opposed the French Revolution:

I see him, - old, but vigorous in age,
Stand like an oak whose stag-horn branches start
Out of its leafy crown, the more to awe
The younger brethren of the grove…

In the second world war, servicemen and women who were Mentioned in Despatches were given an Oak Leaf Emblem, a symbol of the award.

The British Royal Navy’s official marching tune is Heart Of Oak, with lyrics written by the 18th century actor/manager David Garrick and music by William Boyce. Boyce wrote music for many Shakespeare productions, including The Tempest, Cymbeline, Romeo And Juliet and The Winter's Tale.

One of the most intriguing occurrences of the oak symbol was observed by James Hall in his book, Michelangelo And The Reinvention Of The Human Body (Pimlico, 2006) and noted in a review in The Guardian:

‘It is enlightening to learn that not only was the oak leaf the symbol of Pope Julius II, who had commissioned him [Michelangelo] in the first place, but that the Latin for acorn is 'glans'. Julius had been rumoured to have had homosexual relationships before becoming Pope, and almost certainly asked aloud whether he or the King of France had bigger balls’.

The clock featured on The Times, introduced on January 7, 1804, is framed by sprigs of oak leaves and mistletoe — once harvested by the Druids from oak trees. It has been suggested that the oak symbolises permanence, while the clock is the present and the mistletoe the past.

But arguably the most recognised use of the oak as a symbol is the acorn-adorned sprig that is the emblem of the National Trust. Founded in 1895 by three Victorian philanthropists, Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, the Trust now protects more than 248,000 hectares (612,000 acres) of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, more than 700 miles of coastline and 200-plus buildings - all under the shade of its symbolic oak.