Here are some facts and figures about Britain’s most famous festival, Glastonbury.
– This is the 36th Glastonbury Festival, after the event began in 1970.
Originally named the Pilton Festival, the event has observed regular fallow years to allow the farmland to recover.
– Attendees often complain about the price of a ticket but the inaugural event cost just £1.
Admission came with free milk from founder Michael Eavis’s dairy farm.
– The price of a ticket to this year’s event is £248.
Profits made will be split between the charities Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace.
– Tickets sold out in 36 minutes this year.
And coach package tickets were snapped up in under 30 minutes.
– Some 135,000 tickets were sold to the general public.
The site is expected to host 200,000 festival-goers, cast and crew over the five-day event.
– This year the site covers 900 acres in the Vale of Avalon in Somerset.
The inaugural event occurred on land owned solely by the Eavis family.
Best view in the world, no? EM pic.twitter.com/lJDOMWnE0p
— Glastonbury Live (@GlastoLive) June 26, 2019
– As many as 2,800 performances will take place from today until Sunday night.
From stadium-sized headline slots on the Pyramid Stage to intimate acoustic ones in the Rabbit Hole.
– This year Glastonbury will host 79 stages across numerous areas.
Each has its own identity, with many being curated by individual teams.
– Roughly 400 food stalls will trade across the festival site.
The festival hosts an annual trader awards focused on sustainability and winners are offered free or affordable pitches at the next event.
– There are 40,000 bins at this year’s festival.
Many of these have been individually painted by a team of volunteers.
– But despite this, the clean-up following the 2017 edition of the festival cost £785,000.
The six-day operation came after festival organisers urged attendees to take their rubbish home with them.