SUPERLINER Queen Mary 2 celebrates her first birthday tomorrow. And what a year it has been for the first transatlantic liner to be built since QE2!

Queen Mary 2 is the biggest (151,400 tons) is the longest (1,132ft), tallest (236ft) and widest (135ft) passenger liner ever - and, at a cost of £540m, the most expensive passenger ship in history.

Four days after being named by The Queen, this record-breaking ship set off on her maiden voyage and has been making headlines ever since.

In her first year she completed 13 Atlantic crossings, sailed 125,000 nautical miles and carried almost 130,000 passengers.

She has been a crowd-puller at every port she has visited and almost three million people turned out when she sailed close to the east coast of England in July.

Passenger reaction to Queen Mary 2 has been one of overwhelming delight.The ship has been highly rated, especially when it comes to dining, service and on board facilities.

Celebrities who have travelled on the ship include Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito, Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Hurley, Esther Rantzen and Sir Jimmy Savile.

The ship's Royal Court Theatre has staged shows by Dame Shirley Bassey, Jon Bon Jovi, Harry Connick Jnr and Beyonce Knowles.

She was the flagship vessel at the Athens Olympics in August where she played host to Queen Sophia of Spain, former President George Bush and Olympic athletes including Great Britain's gold medal winner Ben Ainslie.

Four books have been published about the ship.

In 2005 Queen Mary 2 will make 26 Atlantic crossings, continuing the Cunard service which started in 1840.

The past comes to life on board Queen Mary 2 with the Maritime Quest exhibition - the first permanent exhibition on an ocean liner where deck upon deck and corridor upon corridor trace Cunard's proud history since its founding in 1839.

On board Queen Mary 2 is artwork worth £3.5m, the world's first floating planetarium offers virtual reality rides through the galaxies, and the largest library at sea (with 8,000 hardbacks, 500 paperbacks, 200 audio books and 100 CD ROMs).

The ship also has the largest ballroom with the biggest dancefloor and longest jogging track at sea.