United Kingdom » Entertainment in London

Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included Henry Purcell from the 16th and 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar and Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert) in the 19th and 20th.

The UK has a large and diverse media, and the prominence of the English language gives it a widespread international dimension. The BBC is the UK's publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest broadcaster in the world. Funded by the compulsory television licence, the BBC operates several television channels and radio stations both in the UK and abroad. The BBC World Service radio channel is broadcast in 33 languages around the world.

BBC News is also broadcast around the world. The main, free-to-air television channels in the UK are BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five. The main satellite broadcaster is British Sky Broadcasting, the vast majority of digital cable services are provided by NTL:Telewest (created by the merger of NTL and Telewest in March 2006), and free-to-air digital terrestrial television by Freeview.

A number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including association football (soccer), rugby football (rugby), golf, cricket, tennis and boxing.

Cinema is centred on Leicester Square, where most of the mainstream chains have their flagship theatres. Close by and much cheaper is the Prince Charles cinema. For an 'Art House' experience try the Gate Cinema, the ICA Cinema, or the National Film Theatre (NFT). There are also frequent film festivals, mostly held at the NFT. One exception is the annual Latin American Film Festival, which takes place in September at the Metro. The BFI London IMAX at Waterloo is the capital's new state of the art screen showing IMAX films on huge screens - a real viewing experience.

Nightclubs come in as many flavours, shapes, sizes and styles as there are people to fill them. The better-known clubs tend to be around the Leicester Square/Charing Cross Road area.