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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Royal Opera House
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(London WC2) Home of the Royal Opera and the *Royal Ballet. The theatre is the third on the site, in an unbroken succession going back to 1732; it opened in 1858 to the design of E.M. Barry (1830–80, son of Charles *Barry). Situated in *Covent Garden, it is also widely known by that name. Its superb auditorium is virtually unaltered.
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The Covent Garden theatre specialized in opera from 1847, except during the two world wars (in the second it was famous as a Mecca dance hall). It is only since World War II that it has combined opera and ballet. The Sadler's Wells Ballet reopened the theatre in 1946 with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty; and in 1947 a newly formed Covent Garden Opera Company gave its first performance, with Carmen. The opera company, renamed the Royal Opera in 1968, presents as guest artists the greatest singers in the world with the operas performed in the original languages – complementing the British casts and English texts of London's other permanent opera house, *English National Opera.
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