Who founded England’s Glastonbury Festival?

Michael Eavis founded England’s Glastonbury Festival.

Eavis launched the event in 1970 on his Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset. The first edition was called the Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival and featured performances including Marc Bolan. It was a small beginning compared with the huge, multi-stage festival Glastonbury later became.

The festival developed through changing names, formats, and periods when it was not held. Its early identity was closely connected with Eavis’s farm, live music, camping, and progressive causes. Over time, Glastonbury expanded beyond rock and folk to include pop, electronic music, hip-hop, theatre, comedy, circus, and visual arts.

Emily Eavis, Michael Eavis’s daughter, later became a major creative leader and co-organizer. That family role sometimes leads people to identify her as the founder, but the festival was established by Michael Eavis in 1970. Glastonbury’s original name is also frequently confused with its later official title, Worthy Farm’s Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts.