Why are oak trees so important to us?

Recently vandals attacked a thousand-year old Oak tree in Sherwood Forest - believed to be where Robin Hood sheltered with his Merry Men.

The damage was perhaps all the more shocking because the oak has long served as a symbol of national
identity, of strength and resilience, even through the hardest times.

As PM continues our "Year of the Tree" series, Caroline Wyatt speaks to Dr James Canton - author of the Oak Papers.

It's a book inspired by the two years he spent studying the Honywood Oak in Essex, a solitary tree that's witnessed eight hundred years of human life.

(Photo: Oak Tree
(Credit: BBC)