QE2 a celebration of forty years service. Click HERE to secure a very special commemorative publication.

As the stirring music flowed out from the quayside, the most famous liner in the world, Southampton's icon of style and elegance, Queen Elizabeth 2 pulled herself away from her usual berth to begin a voyage that is to be far from usual.

Three deep, booming blasts, that could be heard ten miles away, shuddered through the air from QE2's powerful whistle, the water between dockside and ship boiled and churned with the movement of the great Cunarder and with another resonating blare she was off heading out to sea.

The Royal Marines, resplendent in traditional white pith helmets, marched along the dock, by now appropriately playing A Life on the Ocean Wave and that was exactly what this special, memorable event was celebrating.

QE2 was setting sail on her 1,400th voyage, a "lap of honour'' around Great Britain, to mark the 40th anniversary of her launch by the Queen back in 1967.

Over the next week the voyage, which was sold out almost immediately it went on sale, will see QE2 visit Newcastle, South Queensferry for Edinburgh while tomorrow, the actual date of the anniversary, the liner will be making an emotional return to the River Clyde where she was built in the 1960s.

Friday will be another nostalgic day with QE2 alongside Liverpool, so long the base for Cunard, where, at the city's Anglican cathedral, a concert is to be held featuring the opera singer, Lesley Garrett, the Band of the Scots Guards and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

Click HERE for more QE2 and shipping sories.