Diamond Jubilee: Top Gear man in Abingdon Jubilee bun throw

Top Gear presenter James May will be helping to throw buns from Abingdon as part of Diamond Jubilee celebrations across Oxfordshire.

The town will host its 250-year-old royal tradition from the roof of the county hall from 18:00 BST.

May was asked to help come up with a contraption to fire buns at the hard-to-reach parts of the crowd as part of his TV show Man Lab.

Elsewhere in Oxfordshire, more than 50 street parties have been planned.

Ten flotillas from the Henley area will also take part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in London.

Banbury will celebrate with a huge children's street party from 13:30, where 1,000 children will be given a post-war style ration book token which they will be able to exchange for a plate of typical 1950s food.

A big screen in the Market Place will look back at royal events over the past 60 years beginning with the Coronation in 1953.

In Abingdon, the first bun throwing event marked King George III's coronation in 1761 and the town has been flinging currant buns to mark royal and national events ever since.

TV star May will pit his machine against two champion bun throwers as 6,000 buns take to the sky - 100 buns for every year of the Queen's reign.

He said: "When we got the call from the good people of Abingdon we were only too happy to rise to the challenge.

"This will be over 250 years of a glorious tradition revitalised. Please come along and support. Free buns for everybody."

A tree-planting event will take place in Sheep Street, Bicester, at 12:00 and the following day the town will celebrate with an all-day Jubilee carnival.

Goring and Streatley are staging a lunch street party followed by a carnival procession and open-air concert.

Organisers shipped in 4,000 red, white and blue ponchos for the event which will be 1km long and span the two counties of Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The twin villages, separated by the River Thames, will then host a water pageant on Monday, as well as a junior Olympics-style event.

Henley-on-Thames is hosting a private Big Lunch with 60 people all over the age of 80 attending in the town's Market Place.