ENGLAND

Healthcare

Main article: Healthcare in England
William Beveridge's 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state.
The National Health Service (NHS), is the publicly funded healthcare system responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the National Health Service Act 1946. It was based on the findings of the Beveridge Report, prepared by the economist and social reformer, William Beveridge.[185] The NHS is largely funded by general taxation and National Insurance payments;[186] it provides most of its services free at the point of use, although there are charges for some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions and aspects of personal care.[187]
The government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, under the Secretary of State for Health. Most of the department's expenses are on the NHS—£98.6 billion was spent in 2008–2009.[188] Regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council are organised on a UK-wide basis, as are non-governmental bodies such as the Royal Colleges.
The average life expectancy is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four countries of the United Kingdom.[189] The south of England has a higher life expectancy than the north, but regional differences seem to be slowly narrowing: between 1991–1993 and 2012–2014, life expectancy in the North East increased by 6.0 years and in the North West by 5.8 years.[189]

Demography

Main article: Demography of England

Population

Main article: English people
See also: English diaspora, Cornish people, and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom
The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, colour-coded to show populationPopulation of England and Wales by administrative areas. Their size shows their population, with some approximation. Each group of squares in the map key is 20% of total number of districts.
With over 56 million inhabitants, England is by far the most populous country of the United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the combined total.[3] England taken as a unit and measured against international states would be the 26th largest country by population in the world.[190]
The English people are British people.[191] There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.[e] Since the late 1990s, many English people have migrated to Spain.[196] Due in particular to the economic prosperity of South East England, it has received many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom.[191] There has been significant Irish migration.[197] The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 87.50%, including Germans[198] and Poles.[191] Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6% of people living in England have family origins in the Indian subcontinent, mostly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.[191][198] About 0.7% are Chinese.[191][198] 2.90% of the population are black, from Africa and the Caribbean, especially former British colonies.[191][198] In 2007, 22% of primary school children in England were from ethnic minority families,[199] and in 2011 that figure was 26.5%.[200] About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration.[201]
England contains one indigenous national minority, the Cornish people, recognised by the UK government under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2014.[202]

Language

Further information: Languages of the United Kingdom and English language in England
LanguageNative speakers
(thousands)[203]
English46,937Polish529Punjabi272Urdu266Bengali216Gujarati212Arabic152French145Portuguese131Welsh8Cornish0.6Other2,267Population51,006
English, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated in what is now England, where it remains the principal tongue. According to a 2011 census, it is spoken well or very well by 98% of the population[204] and is widely spoken around the world.[205]
English language learning and teaching is an important economic activity. There is no legislation mandating an official language for England,[206] but English is the only language used for official business. Despite the country's relatively small size, there are many distinct regional accents.
Cornish died out as a community language in the 18th century but is being revived,[207] and is now protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[208] It is spoken by 0.1% of people in Cornwall,[209] and is taught to some degree in several primary and secondary schools.[210]
State schools teach students a second language or third language from the ages of seven, most commonly French, Spanish or German.[211] It was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a foreign language at home,[199] the most common being Punjabi and Urdu. However, following the 2011 census data released by the Office for National Statistics, figures now show that Polish is the main language spoken in England after English.[212] In 2022, British Sign Language became an official language of England when the British Sign Language Act 2022 came into effect.[213]

Religion

Main article: Religion in England
Further information: History of Christianity in England
In the 2011 census, 59.4% of the population of England specified their religion as Christian, 24.7% answered that they had no religion, 5% specified that they were Muslim, while 3.7% of the population belongs to other religions and 7.2% did not give an answer.[214] Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England. The established church of England is the Church of England,[215] which left communion with Rome in the 1530s when Henry VIII was unable to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The church regards itself as both Catholic and Protestant.[216]
There are High Church and Low Church traditions and some Anglicans regard themselves as Anglo-Catholics, following the Tractarian movement. The monarch of the United Kingdom is the supreme governor of the Church of England, which has around 26 million baptised members (of whom the vast majority are not regular churchgoers). It forms part of the Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as its symbolic worldwide head.[217] Many cathedrals and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Durham Cathedral, and Salisbury Cathedral.
Westminster Abbey is a notable example of English Gothic architecture. The coronation of the British monarch traditionally takes place at the Abbey.
The second-largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church. Since its reintroduction after the Catholic Emancipation, the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an England and Wales basis where there are 4.5 million members (most of whom are English).[218] There has been one Pope from England to date, Adrian IV, while saints Bede and Anselm are regarded as Doctors of the Church.
A form of Protestantism known as Methodism is the third largest Christian practice and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.[219] It gained popularity in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and among tin miners in Cornwall.[220] There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, Unitarians and The Salvation Army.[221]
The patron saint of England is Saint George; his symbolic cross is included in the flag of England.[222] There are many other English and associated saints, including Cuthbert, Edmund, Alban, Wilfrid, Aidan, Edward the Confessor, John Fisher, Thomas More, Petroc, Piran, Margaret Clitherow and Thomas Becket. There are non-Christian religions practised. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.[223] They were expelled from England in 1290 following the Edict of Expulsion, and were allowed back in 1656.[223]
Especially since the 1950s, religions from the former British colonies have grown in numbers, due to immigration. Islam is the most common of these, now accounting for around 5% of the population in England.[224] Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, adding up to 2.8% combined,[224] introduced from India and Southeast Asia.[224]
A small minority of the population practise ancient Pagan religions. Neopaganism in the United Kingdom is primarily represented by Wicca and Neopagan witchcraft, Druidry, and Heathenry. According to the 2011 census, there are roughly 53,172 people who identify as Pagan in England,[f] including 11,026 Wiccans.[g] 24.7% of people in England declared no religion, compared with 14.6% in 2001.[225] Norwich had the highest such proportion at 42.5%, followed by Brighton and Hove at 42.4%.

Education

Main article: Education in England
The Department for Education is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education.[226] State-funded schools are attended by approximately 93% of English schoolchildren.[227] Education is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education.[228]
Children between the ages of 3 and 5 attend nursery or an Early Years Foundation Stage reception unit within a primary school. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 attend primary school, and secondary school is attended by those aged between 11 and 16. State-funded schools are obliged by law to teach the National Curriculum; basic areas of learning include English literature, English language, mathematics, science, art & design, citizenship, history, geography, religious education, design & technology, computing, ancient & modern languages, music, and physical education.[229]
The University of Oxford was founded in 1096, making it the world's second-oldest university.
The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in literacy, mathematics, and science with the average British student scoring 503.7, well above the OECD average of 493.[230]
Although most English secondary schools are comprehensive, there are selective intake grammar schools to which entrance is subject to passing the eleven-plus exam. Around 7.2 per cent of English schoolchildren attend private schools, which are funded by private sources.[231] Standards in state schools are monitored by the Office for Standards in Education, and in private schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.[232]
After finishing compulsory education, students take GCSE examinations. Students may then opt to continue into further education for two years. Further education colleges (particularly sixth form colleges) often form part of a secondary school site. A-level examinations are sat by a large number of further education students, and often form the basis of an application to university. Further education covers a wide curriculum of study and apprenticeships, including T-levels, BTEC, NVQ and others. Tertiary colleges provide both academic and vocational courses.[233]

Higher education

Higher education students normally attend university from age 18 onwards, where they study for an academic degree. There are over 90 universities in England, all but one of which are public institutions. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the government department responsible for higher education in England.[234] Students are generally entitled to student loans to cover tuition fees and living costs.[h] The first degree offered to undergraduates is the bachelor's degree, which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then able to work towards a postgraduate degree, which usually takes one year, or a doctorate, which takes three or more years.[236]
England's universities include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world. As of 2023, four England-based universities, the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and University College London, are ranked among the top ten in the 2023 QS World University Rankings. The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, and the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, are the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world.[237]
The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research.[238] The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the Financial Times.[239] Academic degrees in England are usually split into classes: first class, upper second class, lower second class, third, and unclassified.[236] The King's School, Canterbury and King's School, Rochester are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world.[240] Many of England's most well-known schools, such as Winchester College, Eton, St Paul's School, Harrow School and Rugby School are fee-paying institutions.[241]

Culture

Main article: Culture of England
Further information: English Renaissance

Architecture

Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period; among the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg.[242] With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueducts.[243] It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best-known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England.[243] Another well-preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset.[243]
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex.
Early medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno–Saxon monasticism,[244][245] to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various castles were created; the best known include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle.[246]
Throughout the Plantagenet era, an English Gothic architecture flourished, with prime examples including the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster.[246] Expanding on the Norman base there was also castles, palaces, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th-century Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity synthesised with Christianity appeared, the English Baroque style of architect Christopher Wren being particularly championed.[247]
Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched. In addition to this, around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.[i]

Gardens

Main article: English garden
The landscape garden at Stourhead. Inspired by the great landscape artists of the seventeenth century, the landscape garden was described as a "living work of art" when first opened in the 1750s.[249]
Landscape gardening, as developed by Capability Brown and William Kent, set an international trend for the English landscape garden. Gardening, and visiting gardens, are regarded as typically English pursuits. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. At large country houses, the English garden usually included lakes, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape.[250]
By the end of the 18th century, the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century.[251] The English landscape garden was centred on the English country house and manor houses.[250]
English Heritage and the National Trust preserve great gardens and landscape parks throughout the country.[252] The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is held every year by the Royal Horticultural Society and is said to be the largest gardening show in the world.[253]

Folklore

Main article: English folklore
Robin Hood and Maid Marian with Richard I of England
English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies, giants, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, such as the tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland the Smith,[254] others date from after the Norman invasion. The legends featuring Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood, and their battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham, are among the best-known of these.[255]
During the High Middle Ages tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore and developed into the Arthurian myth.[256][257][258] These were derived from Anglo-Norman, Welsh and French sources,[257] featuring King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table such as Lancelot. These stories are most centrally brought together within Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain).[j]
Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries.[260] On 5 November people celebrate Bonfire Night to commemorate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot centred on Guy Fawkes. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as Morris dancing, Maypole dancing, Rapper sword in the North East, Long Sword dance in Yorkshire, Mummers Plays, bottle-kicking in Leicestershire, and cheese-rolling at Cooper's Hill.[261] There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the Pearly Kings and Queens associated with cockneys, the Royal Guard, the Morris costume and Beefeaters.[262]

Cuisine

Main article: English cuisine
Since the early modern period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce.[263] During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the Industrial Revolution with increasing urbanisation. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by food critics with some good ratings in Restaurant's best restaurant in the world charts.[264]
English foods: clockwise from top left—tea cakes, cheeses, wines and cider
Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast, featuring a roasted joint (usually beef, lamb, chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.[265] Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the full English breakfast (generally consisting of bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and eggs).[266] Various meat pies are consumed, such as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold)[265] and the Cornish pasty.
Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well-known stew originating in the northwest. Some of the more popular cheeses are Cheddar, Red Leicester, Wensleydale, Double Gloucester and Blue Stilton. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created, such as chicken tikka masala and balti. Traditional English dessert dishes include apple pie or other fruit pies; spotted dick – all generally served with custard; and, more recently, sticky toffee pudding. Sweet pastries include scones served with jam or cream, dried fruit loaves, Eccles cakes and mince pies as well as sweet or spiced biscuits.
Common non-alcoholic drinks include tea[267] and coffee; frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wine, ciders and English beers, such as bitter, mild, stout and brown ale.[268]

Visual arts

Main article: English art
See also: Arts Council England
The Hay Wain by John Constable, 1821, is an archetypal English painting.The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1888, in the Pre-Raphaelite style
The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria, but also feature further south, for example at Creswell Crags.[269] With the arrival of Roman culture in the 1st century, various forms of art such as statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone and Aldborough.[270] During the Early Middle Ages the style favoured sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard discovered in 2009. Some of these blended Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Vespasian Psalter.[271] Later Gothic art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as Benedictional of St. Æthelwold and Luttrell Psalter.[272]
The Tudor era saw prominent artists as part of their court; portrait painting, which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German Hans Holbein, and natives such as Nicholas Hilliard built on this.[272] Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and William Dobson.[272] The 18th century saw the founding of the Royal Academy; a classicism based on the High Renaissance prevailed, with Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds becoming two of England's most treasured artists.[272]
In the 19th century, John Constable and J. M. W. Turner were major landscape artists. The Norwich School continued the landscape tradition, while the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, led by artists such as Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, revived the Early Renaissance style with their vivid and detailed style.[272] William Morris and other English artists pioneered the Arts and Crafts movement.[273] Prominent among 20th-century artists was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general.[274] The Royal Society of Arts is an organisation committed to the arts.[275]

Literature, poetry, and philosophy

Main article: English literature
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet and philosopher, best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales.
Early authors such as Bede and Alcuin wrote in Latin.[276] The period of Old English literature provided the epic poem Beowulf and the secular prose of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,[277] along with Christian writings such as Judith, Cædmon's Hymn and hagiographies.[276] Following the Norman conquest Latin continued among the educated classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.
Middle English literature emerged with Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, along with Gower, the Pearl Poet and Langland. William of Ockham and Roger Bacon, who were Franciscans, were major philosophers of the Middle Ages. Julian of Norwich, who wrote Revelations of Divine Love, was a prominent Christian mystic. With the English Renaissance literature in the Early Modern English style appeared. William Shakespeare, whose works include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, remains one of the most championed authors in English literature.[278]
Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Thomas Kyd, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are other established authors of the Elizabethan age.[279] Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes wrote on empiricism and materialism, including scientific method and social contract.[279] Filmer wrote on the Divine Right of Kings. Marvell was the best-known poet of the Commonwealth,[280] while John Milton authored Paradise Lost during the Restoration.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise; this fortress, built by nature for herself. This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare.[281]
Some of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham. More radical elements were later countered by Edmund Burke who is regarded as the founder of conservatism.[282] The poet Alexander Pope with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in romanticism: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake and William Wordsworth were major figures.[283]
In response to the Industrial Revolution, agrarian writers sought a way between liberty and tradition; William Cobbett, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were main exponents, while the founder of guild socialism, Arthur Penty, and cooperative movement advocate G. D. H. Cole are somewhat related.[284] Empiricism continued through John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, while Bernard Williams was involved in analytics. Authors from around the Victorian era include Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells and Lewis Carroll.[285] Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.[286]

Performing arts

Further information: Folk music of England
See also: Music of the United Kingdom

Thomas Tallis' "Lamentations I"

Duration: 8 minutes and 59 seconds.
8:59
"Greensleeves"

Duration: 34 seconds.
0:34
Henry Purcell's "The Queen's Dolour (A Farewell)"

Duration: 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
3:10
Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1"

Duration: 1 minute and 26 seconds.
1:26
Problems playing these files? See media help.
The traditional folk music of England is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes and dance music. It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities. Ballads featuring Robin Hood, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in the 16th century, are an important artefact, as are John Playford's The Dancing Master and Robert Harley's Roxburghe Ballads collections.[287] Some of the best-known songs are Greensleeves, Pastime with Good Company, Maggie May and Spanish Ladies among others. Many nursery rhymes are of English origin such as Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, Roses Are Red, Jack and Jill, London Bridge Is Falling Down, The Grand Old Duke of York, Hey Diddle Diddle and Humpty Dumpty.[288] Traditional English Christmas carols include "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships" and "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen".
Early English composers in classical music include Renaissance artists Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, followed by Henry Purcell from the Baroque period and Thomas Arne who was well known for his patriotic song Rule, Britannia!. German-born George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in London and became a national icon in Britain, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, especially his English oratorios, The Messiah, Solomon, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.[289]
The Beatles are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in popular music.[290]
Classical music attracted much attention in the 18th century with the formation of the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, which was the longest running classical music festival of its kind until the final concerts in 1912. The English Musical Renaissance was a hypothetical development in the late 19th and early 20th century, when English composers, often those lecturing or trained at the Royal College of Music, were said to have freed themselves from foreign musical influences. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others.[291] Present-day composers from England include Michael Nyman, best known for The Piano, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have achieved enormous success in the West End and worldwide.
In popular music, many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and Def Leppard are among the highest-selling recording artists in the world.[292] Many musical genres have origins in (or strong associations with) England, such as British invasion, progressive rock, hard rock, Mod, glam rock, heavy metal, Britpop, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing, acid house, garage, trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep.[293]
The Royal Albert Hall. Since the hall's opening in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres have appeared on its stage.
Large outdoor music festivals in the summer and autumn are popular, such as Glastonbury, V Festival, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. England was at the forefront of the illegal, free rave movement from the late 1980s, which inspired the pan-European culture of teknivals.[294] The Boishakhi Mela is a Bengali New Year festival celebrated by the British Bangladeshi community. It is the largest open-air Asian festival in Europe. After the Notting Hill Carnival, it is the second-largest street festival in the UK, attracting over 80,000 visitors.
The most prominent opera house in England is the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.[295] The Proms is a major annual cultural event in the English calendar.[295] The Royal Ballet is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies. The Royal Academy of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822, receiving its royal charter in 1830.[296] England is home to numerous major orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.[297] Other forms of entertainment that originated in England include the circus[298][299][300] and the pantomime.[301]