The culture of England is sometimes difficult to separate clearly from the culture of the United Kingdom, so influential has English culture been on the cultures of the British Isles and, on the other hand, given the extent to which other cultures have influenced life in England. It has also been spread over large parts of the globe due to the British Empire.

England has produced many famous authors including William Shakespeare, arguably the most famous in the history of the English language. This tradition has continued with the likes of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Harold Pinter, and John Webster, all often considered among the greatest writers of their time[citation needed], while others such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling have been among the best-selling novelists of the last century. Among the poets, Lord Byron, John Keats, John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and many others remain read and studied around the world.

Composers from England have generally not achieved the same recognition as their literary counterparts and particularly during the nineteenth century were often overshadowed in international reputation by other European composers; some revival of England's status in this respect began during the twentieth century with the prominence of composers such as Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten. In popular music, English bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd have all been cited as among the most influential and best-selling Rock bands of all time. England is also credited for being the birthplace of many pop-culture movements such as punk and acid house.

Sport
Sport is very popular in England. The country, during the Nineteenth Century, was the location of the codification of a number of modern sports, including Football, Cricket, Tennis, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Badminton. Of these, Football remains the country's most popular spectator sport. England contains more UEFA grade A stadiums than any other, and is home to some of the sport's top club teams such as Chelsea F.C., Arsenal F.C., Liverpool F.C., and Manchester United F.C. and The England national team won the 1966 World Cup, which was hosted in England, and is one of the game's superpowers although they have not won the World Cup since.

The England Rugby Union team and England cricket team are often among the best in the world, with the rugby union team winning the 2003 World Cup. Rugby clubs such as Leicester Tigers have had success in the Europe wide Heineken Cup. At Rugby League, the England national team are to compete more regularly; before 2006, England had generally been represented by the Great Britain national rugby league team, although there was little representation from the other home countries.

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( William Shakespeare )