In 1841 Thomas Cook, a strict Baptist and member of Derbyshire Temperance Society, arranged a train excursion for 500 temperance campaigners from Leicester to the nearby town of Loughborough to attend a religious festival.

Cook charged his customers one shilling and this included the cost of the rail ticket and the food on the journey.

The new venture was a great success, and Cook soon founded the first modern travel agency, now known as Thomas Cook.

He negotiated a deal with the railroads under which they gave him a commission for every ticket he sold.

Cook’s Conducted Tours soon become a big international business. In 1872 Thomas Cook & Son organized a 222-day round-the-world tour for 200 guineas.

Thomas Cook Company became state-owned in 1948. At the time, it was the biggest and best-known travel agency in the world.

According to BBC in the early 1950s, when only one in 100 Britons had ever been abroad, the company showed information films in town halls encouraging holidaymakers to try exotic places like Spain, Italy and Switzerland.