For the sporty, the traditional Oxford/Cambridge University Boat Race is held in London on the River Thames in late March/early April; the famous but gruelling Grand National steeplechase takes place at Aintree, Liverpool, on the first Saturday in April; the FA Cup soccer final takes place in May; the Lawn Tennis Championships, complete with strawberries and cream, and tantrums by major players, take place at Wimbledon in late June; in the same month the champagne-quaffing set head for the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames; and the Cowes Week yachting extravaganza pushes off on the Isle of Wight in late July/early August.

Those uninterested in ball games and fast-moving animals should check out the Chelsea Flower Show at London’s Royal Hospital in May; the Trooping of the Colour pageantry on the Queen’s birthday in London in mid-June; the bacchanalian Glastonbury Festival music extravaganza which swamps Glastonbury’s paddocks in June; and the riotous (in the best possible sense) Caribbean carnival in London’s Notting Hill in late August.