1. The Abbey is a Royal Peculiar. The term derives from the "peculiar" or particular jurisdiction of a church that is not subject to any archbishop or bishop, but comes directly under the authority of the sovereign.

2. On Christmas Day, 1950, the Coronation Stone - or Stone of Scone - was stolen after four Scottish Nationalist students broke into the Abbey and took it to Scotland. It was found in Arbroath Abbey and returned to Westminster in April 1951. The Stone was officially returned to Scotland in 1996 and is now part of the Honours of Scotland display in Edinburgh Castle.

3. The origin of the phrase “robbing Peter to pay Paul” came about when some money, raised by selling some of the Abbey's land, was used to repair the (old) St Paul's cathedral. Westminster Abbey is dedicated to St Peter.

4. The Queen's coronation, at the Abbey on June 2, 1953, was the first to be televised and was transmitted worldwide by the BBC.

5. The Coronation Oil - used to anoint the new Sovereign seated in the Coronation Chair - is a secret formula but includes oils of orange flowers, roses, cinnamon, jasmine, musk and ambergris.

6. The current organ was built by Harrison and Harrison in 1937 and was used for the first time at the Coronation of King George VI.

7. In the 1955 sci-fi film The Quatermass Xperiment, a rocket crew member who has been taken over by some sort of alien life form in space ends up being chased into Westminster Abbey! One of its stars was Jack Warner, of the much-loved police TV series Dixon Of Dock Green. Read more about Bobbies on the box here.

8. There have been bells at the Abbey since 1230 - one 15th-century and two 16th-century bells are still in use. The half-muffled Abbey bells were included in the worldwide broadcast of the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales.

9. Westminster Abbey Choir School is the only school in Britain exclusively for the education of boy choristers aged eight to 13. Selection is through a series of musical and academic tests.

10. St Margaret's Church stands between Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament and is known as "the parish church of the House of Commons".