· The String of Pearls Golden Jubilee Festival starts this month and runs throughout 2002 with more than 80 landmarks and institutions with royal associations along the Thames opening their doors to the public and putting on special exhibitions.

· Buckingham Palace gardens will be the venue for a classical concert on Saturday 1 June and a pop concert, with acts including Will Young, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John, on Monday 3 June. To enter a ballot for tickets (there have been 1.5 million applications so far) ring 0900 1952 2002 (www.bbc.co.uk/queensconcerts), lines close midnight tonight. Giant screens will broadcast the concerts in St James's Park, Green Park, the Mall and Horse Guards Parade.

· London Underground will run trains non-stop for 42 hours to ferry revellers from Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 June. This will be only the third time that the Tube has run through the night.

· Rail operators will run a bank-holiday service on the Monday and Tuesday but timetables will be strengthened with additional services and longer trains on the Saturday, Tuesday and especially Monday.

· A chain of 750 beacons will be lit throughout the UK and the Commonwealth on Monday 3 June. The Queen will light the first herself at the Queen Victoria Memorial, and the process will reach as far afield as British scientific bases in the Antarctic and Arctic and Mount Kenya.

· A giant carnival pageant, including a 5,000 strong gospel choir, a dance troupe of 4,000 and representatives from the armed services, will move through the Mall on Tuesday 4 June, ending in a fireworks display in front of Buckingham Palace.

· For further information: www.goldenjubilee.gov.uk, www.londontouristboard.com