In Malta, several restaurants were booked for a lavish family lunch while others, in view of yesterday’s favourable weather, preferred to spend the day on the beach.

Those whose fathers have passed away took the occasion to visit their loved ones at the cemetery, placing flowers on the graves, as well as candles and also Father’s Day cards.

Contrary to popular belief, Father’s Day was not established as a holiday in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards.

A Mrs John B. Dodd, of Washington, USA, first proposed the idea of a “father’s day” in 1909. Mrs Dodd wanted a special day to honour her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was widowed when his wife (Mrs Dodd’s mother) died giving birth to their sixth child. Mr Smart was left to raise the new-born and his five other children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs Dodd became an adult that she realised the strength and selflessness her father had shown as a single parent raising his children.

The first Father’s Day was observed on 19 June 1910 in Spokane, Washington. At about the same time, other people were beginning to celebrate a “Father’s Day” in various towns and cities across America and in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day. But it was not until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring that the third Sunday of June would thereafter be known as “Father’s Day”.