By considering the specialisation $s_{\lambda}(1,q,q^2,\dots,q^{n-1})$ of the Schur function, Stanley was able to describe a formula for the number of semistandard Young tableaux of shape $\lambda$ in terms of the contents and hook lengths of the boxes in the Young diagram. Using specialisations of symplectic and orthogonal Schur functions, we derive corresponding formulae, first given by El Samra and King, for the number of semistandard symplectic and orthogonal $\lambda$-tableaux.

We present some partial results concerning two conjectures of Schützenberger on evacuations of Young tableaux.

We determine the necessary and sufficient combinatorial conditions for which the tensor product of two irreducible polynomial representations of $\GL(n,\mathbb{C})$ is isomorphic to another. As a consequence we discover families of Littlewood--Richardson coefficients that are non-zero, and a condition on Schur non-negativity.