Festival celebrations took place in Cardiff, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Perth, Bournemouth, York, Aldeburgh, Inverness, Cheltenham, Oxford and elsewhere and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea.

* Cheltenham Festival of British Contemporary Music 18 July – 10 August

As a result, every year Irish horse racing fans travel in huge numbers to the highlight event of the National Hunt calendar, the Cheltenham Festival, and in recent years Irish owned or bred horses have dominated the event.

This includes four of the five ' Classics ' of Flat racing: The Oaks and The Derby at Epsom Downs and the 2, 000 Guineas and the 1, 000 Guineas, and major National Hunt meetings include the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National at Aintree

Also located in County Kildare are two other courses, Punchestown Racecourse, home of the National Hunt Festival of Ireland, and Naas Racecourse, which runs both National Hunt and Flat meetings and is used by top race horse trainers as a test for horses preparing for the Cheltenham festival.

* Cheltenham Literature Festival, October 6-15

Despite claims of " dumbing down " from a group established customers on Betfair's forum, there was a significant increase in membership and deposits during the Cheltenham Festival.

At the Cheltenham Literary Festival on 17 October 2010, Lady Antonia announced that her next work would be on the subject of the Great Reform Bill 1832.

The 1999 Greenbelt Festival took place at Cheltenham but saw the lowest audiences since the 1970s.

* July 2 – July 14 – The seventh annual Cheltenham Music Festival is held in Cheltenham, England, with a performance of Brian Easdale's opera, The Sleeping Children, premieres of the first symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, John Gardner, and Arnold van Wyk, Franz Reizenstein's Serenade for Winds, and Maurice Jacobson's Symphonic Suite, as well as performances of works by Humphrey Searle, Robert Masters, Benjamin Frankel, and Philip Sainton.

This race and the meeting eventually developed into the Cheltenham Festival and the organisers were part of the founding of organised steeplechasing through the Grand National Hunt Committee

For example, a model might pose in a short white skirt with a tennis racquet during the Wimbledon tennis championships, or in jodhpurs with a riding crop during the Cheltenham Festival.

Nursery Rhymes, Cheltenham Literary Festival

The May Day weekend saw Lee curating a programme of free jazz at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, at the invitation of festival director Tony Dudley-Evans.

It received its premiere at the Cheltenham Music Festival.

In UK it performs at Aldeburgh Festival, the City of London Festival and the Cheltenham Festival.

* Cheltenham Gold Cup, highlight of the Cheltenham Festival held on the last day ( the Friday )

This change has not applied in National Hunt racing, though amateur riders Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh ( sister of Ruby Walsh ) have gained success in Ireland and ridden winners at the Cheltenham Festival.

Kelly was born in County Kildare and achieved his first Cheltenham Festival success in March 2003 on Hardy Eustace in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices ' Hurdle.

* The inaugural Champion Hurdle is run as part of the Cheltenham Festival.

* Cheltenham Gold Cup – Royal Frolic

The first Royal National Lifeboat was funded by the town of Cheltenham, and arrived in 1866.

Educated at Cheltenham College, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1915.

Always intended for a career in the services, Dill attended the Methodist College Belfast, Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

Golfers play at the course of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Cheltenham Road.

He was educated at Cheltenham College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

He was educated firstly at Brockhurst Preparatory School and then at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy.

While Sir Brian did attempt unsuccessfully to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland in 1984, Standard Chartered Bank in 1985, Midland Bank in 1992 and Abbey National in 2001, he was successful in 1995 in merging with Trustee Savings Bank and the Cheltenham & Gloucester building society.

He was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy before taking a commission in the Royal Artillery in 1906.

The Bristolian ( London-Bristol ), Cathedrals Express ( London-Hereford ), Cheltenham Spa Express ( London-Cheltenham ), Cornish Riviera Express ( London-Penzance ), The Golden Hind ( London-Penzance ), The Mayflower ( London-Plymouth ), Night Riviera ( London-Penzance sleeper ), The Red Dragon ( London-South Wales ), The Capitals United ( London-South Wales ), The Royal Duchy ( London-Penzance ), The Saint David ( London-South Wales ), The Atlantic Coast Express ( London-Newquay ), The Torbay Express and The Devon Express ( London-Paignton ).

Along with Eton College and Cheltenham College, the Duke of York's Royal Military School is one of only three English schools to have military colours.

While Eton and Cheltenham parade their colours on rare occasions, the Duke of York's Royal Military School parades its colours briefly each Sunday as the Parade enters Chapel, and on a number of ceremonial parades in the course of the year.

In 1962 the Royal Air Force Chaplains ' School moved to Amport House from Dowdswell Court in Cheltenham.

He also acts as Visiting Professor in Composition at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and was Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Music Festival from 1995 to 2004.

This culminated in the reopening of the line to Cheltenham Racecourse in 2003, by HRH The Princess Royal.

Ryder was educated at Hazelhurst School and Cheltenham College before he entered the Royal Navy in 1926.

After spending some time with Joan Littlewood ’ s ‘ Theatre Workshop ’ company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, he was cast in the Granada television series, The Younger Generation in 1961 and had a musical, Solo, produced in 1962 at Cheltenham.

Duncan was educated at Cheltenham College ( hence their reason for having the Cross from 1978 until 1998 ) and joined the Royal Navy.

Forbes was born on 3 February 1885 in East Hayes, Cheltenham, the only son of Sandford and Alice F. Kilby, He was educated at Bilton Grange near Rugby and Winchester College and later graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1905 when he was commissioned into the Staffordshire Regiment.

Manley died in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 16 November 1901, and his medals are on display in the medals gallery of Firepower-The Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich, south east London.

Unlike Royal Ascot and many other top flat racing events in Britain and Ireland, the Cheltenham Festival does not have a history of attracting many international contenders, though French-trained horses have done well-Baracouda being perhaps the most well-known, having landed the World Hurdle twice.

. In 1859 he resigned from the Royal Academy and retired to Cheltenham, living in Montpellier House, Suffolk Square, where he died on 18 April 1867, he is buried in the churchyard at St Peter's Church, Leckhampton.