Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis to be knighted

Michael Eavis, the founder of Glastonbury Festival, is set to be knighted at Windsor Castle by the Princess Royal for his contributions to music and charity. The investiture ceremony on Tuesday will also honour two former England cricketers, Stuart Broad and Lydia Greenway.

At the age of 88, Mr Eavis, a dairy farmer, continues to host the festival on his Worthy Farm in Somerset, the site of the inaugural event in 1970. With around 200,000 attendees each year, Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival worldwide, showcasing top musical talent and attracting a celebrity-filled audience.

Sir Michael expressed surprise at his knighthood in an interview with the official Glastonbury website, questioning why he was selected while acknowledging his achievements: "I was really surprised to see it, actually. Why did they choose me, I wonder?" He added, "What can I say, really? I've done quite a lot of stuff in my life and I've always been fairly sure that I was doing the right thing."

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Part of Glastonbury's mission is to raise approximately £2 million annually through donations to charities including Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid, as well as various local causes. In 2023, over £3.7 million from the festival went to numerous charitable causes and campaigns such as Centrepoint for homelessness, food redistributor Fareshare, multiple refugee charities, and mental health charity Mind.

Broad, who is England's second-highest Test wicket-taker, will be honoured with a CBE for his services to cricket. He announced his retirement from the sport during the fifth Ashes Test last summer, and he certainly went out with a bang.

The 37-year-old hit a six off his final ball while batting, and took the final wicket with his last ball as a bowler, helping England win the match and level the series, although Australia retained the urn. Broad was runner-up in the public vote for the BBC's 2023 Sports Personality of the Year in December and has since been focusing on fatherhood and television punditry after hanging up his cricketing boots.

Greenway, who earned 225 caps across three formats for England before retiring in 2016, will be awarded an OBE for her services to cricket. After stepping away from professional cricket, she founded the Cricket for Girls academy, which collaborates with schools and clubs to provide training for coaches and teachers and to inspire young female players.