The Diamond Generation: The former miner

This weekend the nation will begin a four-day long celebration of The Queen's 60-year reign.

Throughout the week ITV News will bring you the unique stories of Britons who were born in the year Elizabeth became our monarch in 1952.

The country has changed beyond recognition during the Queen's reign; in our first report Keith Neale, a former miner, spoke to Lewis Vaughan Jones about the changes he has seen.

Keith was 16 when he first went down in to the mines and at the time it seemed like a job that would last.

When the Queen visited a mine in 1958 more than 700,000 worked in mines - now it's just 6,000.

In 1984 came the year long the miner's strike, when those who worked under the ground rose up - but were beaten, Keith remembers the time well:

However looking at the site of his old pit Keith doesn't think his way of life has been completely lost to the past:

Tomorrow, Lewis compares how multi-cultural Britain is very different to the country it was when Elizabeth became Queen - and the legacy of the Empire Windrush from the West Indies.