Imagine you're cut off in a far-off land. What longings would be uppermost in your mind? Here we celebrate those aspects of life that make our islands distinct and beguiling.
18. Glastonbury
Glastonbury began in 1970 when 1,500 tickets were sold for £1 to include ‘free milk from the farm’. It’s now the most iconic music festival in the world—its 135,000 tickets are sold out in a matter of minutes and the announcement of the headline act is front-page news. At music festivals through- out the UK, thousands gather every year to stand in a field to sway to their favourite songs. Like tennis and Pimm’s, music festivals have become a hallmark of summer and weather is never an issue.
‘And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,/They danced by the light of the moon’
(‘The Owl and the Pussycat’, Edward Lear)