Arts and Culture

This section covers British achievements in music, theatre, visual art, architecture, fashion, literature and poetry — the people, works and institutions that shaped British cultural life.

Music

Music spans the full range of British culture, from centuries-old classical traditions to modern pop. The Proms, an eight-week summer season of orchestral music organised by the BBC since 1927, is held at venues including the Royal Albert Hall; its "Last Night of the Proms" is broadcast on television.

Since the 1960s, British pop music — The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, punk in the late 1970s, boy/girl bands in the 1990s — has had a major global cultural impact. Major venues include Wembley Stadium, The O2 in Greenwich, and Glasgow's SEC Centre; summer festivals include Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight Festival and Creamfields. The National Eisteddfod of Wales is an annual Welsh-language cultural festival featuring music, dance and poetry competitions. The Mercury Music Prize honours the best UK/Ireland album each year; the Brit Awards cover categories like best British group and solo artist.

Theatre

Theatres are found in towns and cities throughout the UK. London's West End ("Theatreland") is particularly famous — Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has run there continuously since 1952, the longest initial run of any show in history. Gilbert and Sullivan's 19th-century comic operas (HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance) remain popular, as do Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals (Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and with Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita).

The British pantomime — a light-hearted, music-filled play based on fairy stories, traditionally staged at Christmas — features stock characters like the Dame (a woman played by a man). The Edinburgh Festival each summer includes the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a huge showcase of theatre and comedy. The Laurence Olivier Awards, named after actor Sir Laurence Olivier, are given annually across categories including best director and best actor/actress.

Art

Medieval British art was mostly religious — wall paintings and illuminated manuscripts — much of which was lost after the Reformation. Portrait and landscape painting became prominent from the 18th century. Major galleries include The National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, the National Museum in Cardiff, and the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh.

Architecture

Medieval cathedrals — Durham, Lincoln, Canterbury, Salisbury — still stand today, as does the Norman White Tower in the Tower of London. In the 17th century, Inigo Jones brought classical influences (the Queen's House, Greenwich) and Sir Christopher Wren developed a distinctly British ornate style (the new St Paul's Cathedral). In the 18th century, Scottish architect Robert Adam shaped simpler, elegant styles, influencing Bath's Royal Crescent. The 19th century saw a Gothic revival in major public buildings, including the Houses of Parliament and St Pancras Station. In the 20th century, Sir Edwin Lutyens designed New Delhi and many war memorials, including the Cenotaph in Whitehall — site of the annual Remembrance Day service. Modern British architects working globally include Sir Norman Foster, Lord Richard Rogers and Dame Zaha Hadid.

Garden design has also played a major role — Lancelot "Capability" Brown created naturalistic 18th-century landscaped grounds, and Gertrude Jekyll often worked with Lutyens on colourful garden designs. The annual Chelsea Flower Show showcases garden design from Britain and abroad.

Fashion and Design

British designers span centuries — from Thomas Chippendale (18th-century furniture) and Clarice Cliff (Art Deco ceramics) to Sir Terence Conran (20th-century interiors). Leading fashion designers of recent decades include Mary Quant, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood.

Literature

British novelist Sir William Golding, poet Seamus Heaney and playwright Harold Pinter have all won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Agatha Christie's detective novels and Ian Fleming's James Bond books remain hugely popular worldwide; J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was voted the UK's best-loved novel in 2003. The Man Booker Prize, awarded since 1968, honours the best fiction from the Commonwealth, Ireland or Zimbabwe.

British Poets

British poetry stretches back to the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf and medieval works like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Shakespeare wrote sonnets as well as plays; John Milton's Paradise Lost reflected Protestant religious themes. Nature-inspired poets included William Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott. The 19th century produced William Blake, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Tennyson, and Robert and Elizabeth Browning, while Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon wrote of their First World War experiences. Many notable poets are commemorated in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Check That You Understand

• Some of the major arts and culture events that happen in the UK
• How achievements in arts and culture are formally recognised
• Important figures in British music, art, architecture and literature