1 Inspired by watching Led Zeppelin at the Bath Blues Festival, farmer Michael Eavis decided to organise his own event on his land near Glastonbury in September 1970, in the hope of paying off his mortgage.
2 The Kinks were meant to headline, but cancelled after they decided it was too uncool for their image. Glam-rocker Marc Bolan stepped in after Eavis intercepted him on his way to play at Butlins, but Eavis couldn't afford to pay his fee - so he gave him £100 a month for five months out of his income from selling milk.
3 According to legend, Pilton, where Worthy Farm is situated, was once visited by Jesus Christ and his great-uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, on their way to the tin and lead mines nearby.
4 The main stage, Pyramid, is on a ley line that connects Glastonbury to Stonehenge. (Ley lines are sources of magical energy said to criss-cross the globe in straight lines).
5 The first fully professional festival took place at Glastonbury in 1979, attended by 12,000 people. Eavis borrowed £15,000 from Barclays Bank to stage it, with the farm as security, but the festival lost £49,000.
6 In 1970, entry was £1. In 1971 and 1978, admission was free. In 1979 it was £5; by 1987 £21; in 1990 £38; 2000 was £87; 2007 £145; and this year it's £185.
7 In the early years of Glastonbury, traders jostled to get the best pitches as the site opened. In 1992, each site was marked out and pre- sold. In 1995, there were a record 671 stalls. Now, there are 800.
8 The first big Glastonbury washout was in 1982, with the highest recorded rainfall in June for 45 years on the Friday - over 5in.
9 In 1985, a deluge yet again created knee-high pools of slurry. Another rain-drenched year was 1990, and 1997 became known as The Year of the Mud when the heavens opened and a slurry tanker was brought in to remove the sludge. Unfortunately, it was set on blow instead of suck and created even more mess.
10 1998 saw the invention of a new sport, mud-surfing.
11 In 2005, there was two months' rainfall in a few hours, with car parks left under water and canoes used as transport.
12 In 1995, a bleached-haired, bloodshot-eyed Robbie Williams spent a weekend at Glastonbury with Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis. He was forced out of Take That two weeks later. He returned to the festival as a triumphant solo performer in 1998, telling the crowd: 'Last time I came here, I got sacked. Thank f*** for that.'
13 Keanu Reeves attracted a huge crowd in 1999 when he appeared on stage with his band Dogstar, but revellers were so unimpressed he was pelted with fruit.
14 After his first appearance in 1992, Tom Jones said: 'Van Morrison was on before me and he was complaining that the crowd were falling asleep. When I went on, kids seemed to arrive from everywhere and there was a banner that read "Tom F***ing Jones". That was really something.'
15 David Bowie, almost unknown and bottom of the bill, performed at Glastonbury at 5.30am on June 22, 1971, having spent the night taking cannabis and hallucinogenic mushrooms while waiting to go on. Not surprisingly, he couldn't recall any of his performance. He returned in 2000 wearing a replica of the same beautifully decorated coat and flared trousers he'd worn then.
16 Unlikely headliners given a warm welcome have included Rolf Harris (1993); Tony Bennett in an immaculate suit (1998); Shirley Bassey (2007); Neil Diamond (2008); and Tony Christie (2009).
17 Chris Martin, of Coldplay, said: 'I'm a West Country boy and went to school near Glastonbury. I used to listen to the noise of the festival and wish I could go, but I had English lessons to do.'
18 Bands who play there do so for about 10 per cent of their normal rate because of the festival's charitable stance. The fabulously wealthy Rolling Stones have been approached many times, but the stumbling block has always been money.
19 Billy Bragg, a festival stalwart, erupted in fury backstage in 1999 when the Manic Street Preachers brought their own lavatory and put a sign on it saying: 'These Facilities Are Reserved Exclusively For The Manic Street Preachers.' He said it went against the spirit of the festival.
20 The most controversial headliner was rapper Jay-Z in 2008, a last-minute addition after Radiohead fell through. Critics, including Noel Gallagher, argued rap had no place at Glastonbury, and this was the first year tickets did not sell out. Eavis woke in sweats in the night facing bankruptcy. In the end, tickets sold and Jay-Z triumphed.
21 Staying in a colonial-style tent at nearby Camp Kerala costs 7,000 + VAT for two, and a flushing extra. All creature comforts are there including chefs and masseurs. You can even get a spray-on tan.
22 You can bypass the traffic jams. Flyglastonbury.com operates a helicopter shuttle service from Bristol airport for £645 a head.
23 And they'll put you in a variety of caravans and motor homes with a top-of-the-range six-berther at £5,875. Tickets for the festival are not included.
24 After the 2007 show, Michael Eavis said Glastonbury was attracting too many thirty- and fortysomethings at the expense of the younger crowd. He admitted: 'It's become a bit smart now... You've only got to look in the car parks. There are even Aston Martins. It didn't used to be like that.'
25 Sienna Miller launched Boho chic with her ethnic flea market outfit for Glastonbury in 2004. Retailers were trying to capture the look in their collections the following spring with crochet tops, flowing skirts, big disc belts and suede boots.
26 Gwyneth Paltrow wore a fetching - if unsuitable - cream pashmina and white camisole to watch her husband Chris Martin headlining with Coldplay in 2005.
27 The biggest crowd was in 2000, with an estimated 250,000 people, although only half had paid - the rest had jumped the fence.
28 In 1992, Michael Eavis commissioned a permanent stone circle, inspired by Stonehenge, for the Glastonbury site. It was completed on Midsummer's Eve and has become known as Fake Henge.
29 In 1989, Suzanne Vega and her band had to wear bulletproof vests while performing, after death threats from a girl infatuated with Vega's bass player.
30 Kate Moss came to the rescue of an as-yet-unknown Lily Allen when she was being attacked by a gang of girls. Allen was stabbed in the ear with a beer can and given two black eyes after one girl accused her of sleeping with her boyfriend, which Allen denied. Moss intervened and told them to stop being mean.
31 The 20th anniversary in 1990 erupted in a battle between security guards and hippies who threw petrol bombs, set fire to five Range Rovers and caused £50,000 worth of damage.
32 Just ten days before the festival in 1994, the Pyramid stage burnt down. A replacement was hastily erected with its iconic wind turbine attached.
33 That wasn't the end of that year's dramas: there was a shooting involving five people, though no one was badly hurt. It also saw the first death in the festival's history when a young man was found dead from a drugs overdose.
34 The site has two million-litre subterranean reservoirs. There are 4,700 loos, 1,600 kilometres of road, six bridges, 4 kilometres of piping, 60 kilometres of fencing.
35 About 1,000 people are involved in clearing litter; 400 paid professionals and 600 volunteers working for their ticket.
36 They fill about 7,000 oil drums and 110 skips. There are 1,000 can banks. Last year, 1,650 tons of waste was left behind, half of which was recycled.
37 In the early Eighties, there were about 50 first-aiders on site. Now there are 500, including doctors, nurses, ambulance crews, and an intensive care unit.
38 About 3,000 people are treated over the weekend. Several babies have been born at the festival, sometimes in tents, and two girls turned up at the medical centre not knowing they were pregnant until they gave birth moments later.
39 Glasto is worth £82 million to the national economy and last year donated £2million to good causes. The main beneficiaries are WaterAid, Oxfam and Greenpeace.
40 Blacks Leisure, which owns Millets, claims 5 per cent of its revenue from camping goods comes from people going to Glastonbury. During the deluge of 2007, it sent an emergency shipment of 10,000 pairs of wellies to cope with demand at its festival stall, while John Lewis doubles its sales of upmarket Hunter wellies in the week running up to the festival.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1289353/Glastonbury-Festival-2010-40-years-mud-mayhem-er-music.html#ixzz1XBIqc7Fe
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