But the hamper soon overflowed and the family had begun tossing their dirty clothes in its general direction.

NEWYORKER: Great Experiment

The reason is there had been a leak to Sky News of a couple of the figures, which showed that - as expected - sales of clothes and general merchandise have been poor in the last three months of the year, which includes the important Christmas period.

BBC: Marks and Spencer's premature release

In general, most people attending Royal Ascot take the opportunity to put on their best clothes.

BBC: Kitted out for Royal Ascot