The Irish sea turned to ice and the Thames froze over for the first time in 60 years after temperatures in Britain plunged to record lows.

Seagulls perched on the frozen river's surface at Teddington, south west London, on Friday as it iced over for the first time since Britain's Big Freeze in 1963. And even the waves on Aldingham beach in Cumbria ground to a halt as the mercury plummeted.

Temperatures in Ravensworth, North Yorkshire, dropped to minus 15.3C overnight on Thursday, a record February low for England. And the cold snap looks set to continue as bookies slashed the odds on Valentine's day being the coldest on record to 7/2. 

Parts of Britain braced for up to four inches of snow and 50mph gales today with forecasters predicting another freezing weekend for most. 

Snow hit Newcastle overnight with families waking up to see the icy flakes covering most of the city, and boats on the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire were locked by frozen water this morning.

Meanwhile, the extreme cold caused wild fires in Devon, Cornwall and Scotland as icy conditions dried out vegetation, according to Scottish firefighters.

A huge blaze fuelled by fierce winds that engulfed swathes of Dartmoor on Thursday night had stopped spreading by Friday morning but it is not yet known what sparked it.

Met Office forecaster Matthew Box said Friday would be dry for much of England, with snow showers only affecting parts of north-east Scotland and 'skimming' into parts of north-east England's coastal regions. 

A man has been captured on camera rescuing a stuck swan from a frozen pond by smashing through the ice with a child's scooter.

Trevor Williams, who was wild swimming in sub-zero temperatures in Hinksey Park, Oxford, rushed to the aid of the swan after onlookers told him about its plight.

Mr Williams made his way to the trapped bird by breaking the ice with a scooter that a child in the park had lent him.

'There were people in the park who were upset because this swan had gone on to the small duck pond, and was stuck so couldn't get anywhere' he explained.

'I didn't think too much about it, I just went and did it.

'I broke the ice and when I got close to it I started getting nervous so I backed off a bit, and it gradually found its way into some of the broken ice I'd created.'

Moments later the swan was filmed waddling out of the pond, seemingly unperturbed by the encounter. 

Meanwhile, a Scottish farmer was forced to plough '25ft high' snow on an infamous vanishing road in Aberdeenshire. 

Charles Gordon created passages through the A938 Lecht Road while packed snow towered above his snow plough. The road itself is known for disappearing under heavy snowfall in the winter but according to Charles, this is the most snow they have seen in 45 years.