Jasmine Directory

When talking about culture, the UK is often viewed as a global force. Being a political union of 4 countries with a favorable geographical position and other well-known historical facts, the UK has merged into the perfect nesting place for various tradition and customs. Its worldwide impact and influence on diverse art forms are mainly due to UK's incredibly prolific pioneers in literature, visual arts and music.

In what regards British literature, the list of great writers is endless, from matchless dramatist William Shakespeare to Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, George Orwell, T. S. Elliot or J. R. R. Tolkien. In 2006, the UK is announced as the top book publisher in the world.

The United Kingdom is the birth place of amazing artists, from William Blake to Francis Bacon, Steve McQueen or Richard Hamilton. It's also the birth place of some of the most famous art galleries, museums and art schools in the world. The Aberystwyth Arts Centre is visited by over 700,000 people a year, the British Museum has a visitor count of 5,575,946 and the University of the Arts London has 6 different constituent colleges.

When it comes to music, the UK once again proves itself to be a remarkable land of opportunities for aspiring musicians. This road was paved by classical composers like Henry Purcell or Sir Arthur Sullivan and evolved into a whole country booming in a music revolution.

From The Beatles to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Rolling Stones, all of UK's influential music bands are the highlight of the pop and rock era. More recent music artists like Coldplay, Radiohead, Adele or the late Amy Winehouse have also achieved great international success.

Among UK's most "musical" cities are Liverpool and Glasgow. Liverpool is the international leading city that holds the most UK chart number 1 hit singles per capita and Glasgow was declared in 2008 the UNESCO City of Music.