1. In 1976, a Routemaster was taken to Paris to celebrate the opening of a branch of Marks & Spencer – another icon of England?

2. Routemaster designer Douglas Scott was paid for his work out of petty cash.

3. For some, the classic London bus is the earlier RT model of hop-on, hop-off vehicle – not the Routemaster!

4. The record sleeve for Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 album, Nancy In London, features the singer-actress sitting on the bonnet of a Routemaster.

5. Fleets of Routemasters were also used in Gateshead – home of English icon The Angel of the North – and by BEA (British European Airways).

6. Privately-owned Routemasters have ended up in many far-flung destinations, including Ottawa and Niagara Falls in Canada and the Australian state of New South Wales.

The RM50 in gold, to celebrate 50 years of the Routemaster
© Routemaster Association

7. The Routemaster was the last bus to be wholly designed by London Transport.

8. Time Out magazine put Duke Baysee, the harmonica-playing Routemaster conductor, at number 66 in its Top 100 Reasons to Live in the Capital.

9. In 1977, 25 Routemasters were painted silver to honour the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

10. A converted Routemaster serves as an ice-cream shop at the reconstructed old London Bridge, bought by oil magnate Robert McCulloch, at Lake Havasu City, Arizona.