"our `culture' (officially at least, in the form of state-funded grants from the Arts Council etc) is largely made up of Italian opera and Russian/French ballet. We have a lot of culture of our own which is not so supported. I just wonder what the level of interest might be throughout the country if there was a modicum of support?
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I really don't want to get into a debate about what our culture is - that way madness lies - but, as someone who never goes to the ballet or opera, off the top of my head I would say that it's the music of Elgar and Vaughan William and, increasingly, the work of those wonderful poets who so beautifully evoke our heritage, landscape, people and 'sense of place',in particular, Wordsworth, Clare, W H Davies and Edward Thomas whose poem 'Haymaking' I scarcely go a day without reading - in fact, a copy of his Selected Poems is an almost constant companion. The popularity of these poets seems to be having a resurgence, especially amongst the modern crop of nature and topographical writers such as Robert Macfarlane.