diff --git a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/TestXSSFSheet.java b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/TestXSSFSheet.java
index 5c6f1670f1..d73ed34dfb 100644
--- a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/TestXSSFSheet.java
+++ b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/TestXSSFSheet.java
@@ -178,6 +178,20 @@ public final class TestXSSFSheet extends BaseTestXSheet {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testHeaderWithAmpersand() throws IOException {
+        try (XSSFWorkbook wb = XSSFTestDataSamples.openSampleWorkbook("AmpersandHeader.xlsx")) {
+            XSSFSheet s = wb.getSheetAt(0);
+            XSSFOddHeader hdr = (XSSFOddHeader) s.getHeader();
+            assertEquals("one && two &&&&", hdr.getCenter());
+            hdr.setAreFieldsStripped(true);
+
+            // In Excel headers fields start with '&'
+            // For '&' to appear as text it needs to be escaped as '&&'
+            assertEquals("one & two &&", hdr.getCenter());
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     void getAllHeadersFooters() throws IOException {
         try (XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook()) {
diff --git a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/extensions/TestXSSFHeaderFooter.java b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/extensions/TestXSSFHeaderFooter.java
index 6238a41713..f5c1054849 100644
--- a/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/extensions/TestXSSFHeaderFooter.java
+++ b/poi-ooxml/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/extensions/TestXSSFHeaderFooter.java
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ class TestXSSFHeaderFooter {
         assertEquals(simple, XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withPage));
         assertEquals(simple, XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withLots));
         assertEquals(simple, XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withFont));
-        assertEquals(simple + "&&", XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds));
+        assertEquals(simple + "&", XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds));
         assertEquals(simple + "&a&b", XSSFOddHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds2));
 
         // Now test the default strip flag
diff --git a/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HeaderFooter.java b/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HeaderFooter.java
index 9d369ad378..aa883dd44e 100644
--- a/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HeaderFooter.java
+++ b/poi/src/main/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HeaderFooter.java
@@ -298,10 +298,13 @@ public abstract class HeaderFooter implements org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Header
 
         // Now do the tricky, dynamic ones
         // These are things like font sizes, font names and colours
-        text = text.replaceAll("\\&\\d+", "");
-        text = text.replaceAll("\\&\".*?,.*?\"", "");
-        text = text.replaceAll("\\&K[\\dA-F]{6}", "");
-        text = text.replaceAll("\\&K[\\d]{2}[+][\\d]{3}", "");
+        text = text.replaceAll("&\\d+", "");
+        text = text.replaceAll("&\".*?,.*?\"", "");
+        text = text.replaceAll("&K[\\dA-F]{6}", "");
+        text = text.replaceAll("&K[\\d]{2}[+][\\d]{3}", "");
+
+        text = text.replaceAll("&&", "&");
+
 
         // All done
         return text;
diff --git a/poi/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFHeaderFooter.java b/poi/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFHeaderFooter.java
index 22ee32af31..b703390585 100644
--- a/poi/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFHeaderFooter.java
+++ b/poi/src/test/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/TestHSSFHeaderFooter.java
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ final class TestHSSFHeaderFooter {
         assertEquals(simple, HSSFHeader.stripFields(withPage));
         assertEquals(simple, HSSFHeader.stripFields(withLots));
         assertEquals(simple, HSSFHeader.stripFields(withFont));
-        assertEquals(simple + "&&", HSSFHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds));
+        assertEquals(simple + "&", HSSFHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds));
         assertEquals(simple + "&a&b", HSSFHeader.stripFields(withOtherAnds2));
 
         // Now test the default strip flag
@@ -192,4 +192,18 @@ final class TestHSSFHeaderFooter {
             assertEquals("bar", footer2.getCenter());
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testHeaderWithAmpersand() throws IOException {
+        try (HSSFWorkbook wb = openSampleWorkbook("AmpersandHeader.xls")) {
+            HSSFSheet s = wb.getSheetAt(0);
+            HSSFHeader h = s.getHeader();
+            String header = h.getCenter();
+            assertEquals("one && two &&&&", header);
+
+            // In Excel headers fields start with '&'
+            // For '&' to appear as text it needs to be escaped as '&&'
+            assertEquals("one & two &&", HSSFHeader.stripFields(header));
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/poi/src/test/java9/module-info.class b/poi/src/test/java9/module-info.class
index 438e778ab5..028b943d0a 100644
Binary files a/poi/src/test/java9/module-info.class and b/poi/src/test/java9/module-info.class differ
diff --git a/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xls b/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xls
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..635ea0e2f4
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xls differ
diff --git a/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xlsx b/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xlsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b305f31259
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/spreadsheet/AmpersandHeader.xlsx differ