Michael Eavis (L) receives the Event Industry Award 2007 from Stephen Casey of award sponsors Accio Marquee & Event Company
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When it comes to popular music festivals Glastonbury has to be the undoubted daddy of them all.
But none of its trademarks, the first-class bands, the jugglers, fire-eaters, poets, veggies and others, would come together in such a manner each June, without the benign presence of the festival's creator and guiding light, Michael Eavis.
Eavis is probably the best-known - certainly the best-loved - music promoter in the world. The Methodist dairy farmer - and proud owner of the 600-acre Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, has been welcoming festival goers to his patch since 1970.
Back in those days, entrance was £1 with a free pint of milk thrown in. The loon-panted, tied-dyed hippy crowd of 1,500 swayed to bands like T Rex and Hawkwind, as well as the now-forgotten Amazing Blondel and Steamhammer.
Farmer Eavis is resolutely a local man. Born in 1935, he was educated at the Cathedral School in nearby Wells and then a merchant naval college. He sailed the world, working for the Union Castle shipping line, before inheriting the farm on his father's death in 1958.
In 1969, he and his second wife, Jean, spent a day at the Bath Blues festival. So impressed were they that they decided to hold their own festival, at home, the following year. Thus, a day after the death of Jimi Hendrix, a legend was born.
Michael Eavis says his motives were simple: "I liked pop music and people so it seemed like a good idea to put the two together. It was all quite naive when we started, we really hadn't a clue."
Although it thrived during the 1970s, Glastonbury really took-off in the 1980s. Seen by many as a rallying-point against Thatcherism, its pro-CND stance - guided by Eavis - brought political, as well as musical relevance. And acts like Aswad, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg combined pop and polemics.
1983 called for a licence to be obtained for the event since the introduction of the local Government Act became law, giving local authorities the power to regulate such events by stipulating the conditions.
Mendip District Council issued a Public Entertainment Licence which set a crowd limit of 30,000 and went into considerable detail about access roads, water supply, hygiene and so on.
Meanwhile, travellers rioted in 1990, the festival was cancelled in 1988, 1991 and 1996, to offer a breather to Michael and Jean Eavis (who died in 1999). And it did not take place in 2001 because of security fears.
Today, a vast fence surrounds the site, the result of measures to try and overcome the growing culture of illegal entry to the Festival, as well as ensuring a secure and safe environment for the legitimate festival goers.
Largely due to Eavis himself, the festival is probably healthier today than ever, although credit also has to go to joint award winner Melvin Benn, who became licensee of Glastonbury Festival and was instrumental in turning around the fortunes of Britain’s biggest outdoor festival.
It regularly sells out within hours, even before the line-up is announced. This year, of course, a new photo-ID element has been introduced to avoid the selling-on of tickets at hugely inflated prices, which has proliferated in recent years.
Now married for a third time, Michael Eavis has said that he will one day, leave the running of the festival to his daughter, Emily. His will be a huge act to follow.
Read more about Melvin Benn |
