Does anyone know the name of the person who originally started and founded the Reading Festival? If you do, would it be really pushing it to ask what year it was? Oh alright, I’ll let you give up. In case you didn’t know (and that’s probably most of you), the festival actually originates from the National Jazz Festival, which was started by Harold Pendleton all the way back in 1961. Perhaps some of you have heard of that before - or even may remember it. No doubt, most people will be new to this fact. As the festival grew in size, it was renamed after the place in which it was held. This once again increased it’s popularity to yet another level, and so the development story continued.

Today, the festival is one of the largest and most highly acclaimed music concerts in England - attracting upwards of a hundred thousand people each August. Indeed, Seatwave - one of the biggest ticket distributors online, has once again seen a surge in demand for Reading Festival 2009 tickets. This is hardly surprising given the scale, lineup, and hype which constantly surrounds the event.